Symposium 4 Talk 3: Bottini

Friday, July 6 2012 14:00-16:00 @ Dome Theatre

Symposium 4: "Balancing the Self: Vestibular Contributions to Self-Consciousness"
Talk 3: "Is there a vestibular-somatosensory interaction? Evidence from brain-damaged patients and healthy participants"

Gabriella Bottini (Psychology Department, University of Pavia, Italy)

SUMMARY

Signals from the vestibular system make a crucial contribution to everyday behaviours. No primary vestibular cortex has been identified, rather several multimodal areas integrate vestibular, visual and somatosensory signals. Functional imaging results revealed a clear anatomical overlap of vestibular and somatosensory projections in a number of parietal areas. Moreover, clinical evidence suggests a direct functional link between these sensory systems: a temporary remission of tactile imperception has been observed after left cold caloric vestibular stimulation in right and left brain-damaged patients. Further, psychophysical studies showed that vestibular stimulation improves detection of touch but, intriguingly, it also dramatically increases the threshold for detecting pain. These results lead to the suggestion that specific cross-modal perceptual interactions occur between vestibular and somatosensory systems. Successful interaction with the environment involves constant adjustment and updating of multisensory inputs. The vestibular system seems to play a crucial role in influencing processing within other individual sensory channels.