title: Functional neuroimaging of visuo-vestibular interaction.
abstract: The brain combines visual, vestibular and proprioceptive information to distinguish between self- and world motion. Often these signals are complementary and indicate that the individual is moving or stationary with respect to the surroundings. However, conflicting visual motion and vestibular cues can lead to ambiguous or false sensations of motion. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore human brain activation when visual and vestibular cues were either complementary or in conflict. We combined a horizontally moving optokinetic stimulus with caloric irrigation of the right ear to produce conditions where the vestibular activation and visual motion indicated the same (congruent) or opposite directions of self-motion (incongruent). Visuo-vestibular conflict was associated with increased activation in a network of brain regions including posterior insular and transverse temporal areas, cerebellar tonsil, cingulate and medial frontal gyri. In the congruent condition, there was increased activation in primary and secondary visual cortex. These findings suggest that when sensory information regarding self-motion is contradictory, there is preferential activation of multisensory vestibular areas to resolve this ambiguity. When cues are congruent, there is a bias towards visual cortical activation. The data support the view that a network of brain areas including the posterior insular cortex may play an important role in integrating and disambiguating visual and vestibular cues.
authors.affiliation: Neuro-otology Unit, Division of Brain Sciences, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK. ed.roberts@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: R E
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3656-5906
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Neuro-otology Unit, Division of Brain Sciences, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Neuro-otology Unit, Division of Brain Sciences, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Arshad
authors.affiliation: Neuro-otology Unit, Division of Brain Sciences, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, City, University of London, London, UK.|Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dima
authors.affiliation: Computational, Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory, Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Leech
authors.affiliation: Neuro-otology Unit, Division of Brain Sciences, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Seemungal
authors.affiliation: Computational, Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory, Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.affiliation: Neuro-otology Unit, Division of Brain Sciences, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK. a.bronstein@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bronstein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Caloric; Vestibular; Visual dependency; Visual motion; Visual–vestibular interaction