Cerebral potentials evoked by fast head accelerations

Fast, time optimal, voluntary horizontal head rotations produce evoked cerebral potentials (EPs). These show distinct amplitudes between 10 and 25 microV and latencies of N1 66 ms, N2 178 ms, P1 295 ms and N3 424 ms. Specifically, an increase in head acceleration is significantly correlated with a decrease of the latency of the EPs and an increase in their normalized amplitude. Control studies with isolated proprioceptive stimulation of the wrists and the neck with the head fixed provided evidence for the dominant vestibular generation of the head movement associated EP that is fine tuned throughout changes in head acceleration.