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The Vestibular System

The Vestibular System

The vestibular system is a set of inner ear structures that provide a sense of balance and spatial orientation. This system is comprised of structures within the labyrinth of the inner ear, including the cochlea and two otolith organs—the utricle and saccule. The labyrinth also contains three semicircular canals—superior, posterior, and horizontal—that are oriented on different planes.

Equilibrium and Balance

Equilibrium and Balance

The inner ear assumes dual functionalities of auditory perception and equilibrium maintenance. The vestibule is the organ responsible for balance. This organ contains mechanoreceptors, specifically hair cells, endowed with stereocilia, which aid in deciphering information regarding the position and motion of our heads. Two intrinsic components, the utricle and saccule, help perceive head position, while the semicircular canals track head movement. Neurological messages initiated in the...

Association Areas of the Cortex

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Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...

Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory

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The cerebellum, while traditionally associated with motor control, also plays a crucial role in memory, particularly in procedural memory, which involves learning motor tasks that become automatic through repetition. For example, studies have shown that when the cerebellum is damaged, individuals or animals lose the ability to learn conditioned motor responses, such as the conditioned eye-blink response in classical conditioning experiments with rabbits. This study demonstrates the...

Somatosensation

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.

Major Somatic Sensory Pathways

Major Somatic Sensory Pathways

Sensory impulses related to touch, pressure, vibration, and proprioception from various body parts, such as the limbs, trunk, neck, and posterior head, travel to the cerebral cortex through the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway. The pathway’s name derives from the two white-matter tracts that convey the impulses: the spinal cord's posterior column and the brainstem's medial lemniscus. First-order sensory neurons extend their axons into the spinal cord, forming the...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 6, 2025

Using Unidirectional Rotations to Improve Vestibular System Asymmetry in Patients with Vestibular Dysfunction

Using Unidirectional Rotations to Improve Vestibular System Asymmetry in Patients with Vestibular Dysfunction

Published on: August 30, 2019

Reduced Vestibular Function is Associated with Cortical Surface Shape Changes in the Frontal Cortex.

Dominic Padova¹, J Tilak Ratnanather², Andreia V Faria³

¹Center for Imaging Science, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Medrxiv : the Preprint Server for Health Sciences

|November 28, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Aging impairs vestibular function, affecting cognition and motor skills. This study links reduced vestibular function to specific shape changes in the frontal and sensorimotor cortices in older adults.

Keywords:

Aging Cortex LDDMM Shape Analysis VEMP VOR Vestibular

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Published on: August 30, 2019

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Published on: May 23, 2013

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Gerontology
Vestibular System Research

Background:

Aging is associated with declining peripheral vestibular function.
Vestibular deficits are linked to impaired executive function, self-motion perception, and motor control.
The specific neural pathways connecting the vestibular system to the frontal and sensorimotor cortices in aging are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between age-related changes in vestibular function and the surface shape of the frontal and sensorimotor cortices.
To identify specific brain regions within the putative
vestibular cortex
that correlate with vestibular function in older adults.

Main Methods:

Cross-sectional study of 117 participants aged 60+ from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.
Utilized end-organ-specific vestibular tests (cVEMP, oVEMP, vHIT) and T1-weighted MRI scans.
Analyzed surface shape descriptors of ten brain regions (e.g., SFG, MFG, IFG, precentral, postcentral gyri) using surface LDDMM and regressed them onto vestibular variables, age, intracranial volume, and sex.

Main Results:

Reduced utricular function correlated with surface compression in the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and expansion in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG).
Diminished horizontal canal function was associated with surface compression in the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and prefrontal cortex (SFG_PFC).
Both reduced saccular and utricular function showed a correlation with surface compression in the posterior medial part of the left MFG.

Conclusions:

Findings reveal a complex link between vestibular system integrity and the morphology of frontal and sensorimotor cortices in aging.
Specific alterations in cortical shape are associated with declines in different vestibular end-organs.
Understanding these neuroanatomical relationships may inform interventions to improve quality of life for aging populations and those with cognitive impairment.