How the vestibular system interacts with somatosensory perception: A sham-controlled study with galvanic vestibular stimulation

NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS

卷:550

Article

Ferre, Elisa R.¹  Day, Brian L.²  Bottini, Gabriella^3,4  Haggard, Patrick¹ 

[1] UCL, Inst Cognit Neurosci, London, England

[2] UCL Inst Neurol, Sobell Dept Motor Neurosci & Movement Disorders, London, England

[3] Osped Niguarda Ca Granda, Cognit Neuropsychol Ctr, Milan, Italy

[4] Univ Pavia, Dept Brain & Behav Sci, I-27100 Pavia, Italy

关键词: Galvanic vestibular stimulation;    Vestibular system;    Tactile perception;    Multisensory integration;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neulet.2013.06.046

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The vestibular system has widespread interactions with other sensory modalities. Here we investigate whether vestibular stimulation modulates somatosensory function, by assessing the ability to detect faint tactile stimuli to the fingertips of the left and right hand with or without galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS). We found that left anodal and right cathodal GVS, significantly enhanced sensitivity to mild shocks on either hand, without affecting response bias. There was no such effect with either right anodal and left cathodal GVS or sham stimulation. Further, the enhancement of somatosensory sensitivity following GVS does not strongly depend on the duration of GVS, or the interval between GVS and tactile stimulation. Vestibular inputs reach the somatosensory cortex, increasing the sensitivity of perceptual circuitry. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free