Traditionally, the vestibular system has been conceived of as the balance system of the brain - its sensors detect movements of the head and this information supports the reflexive control of posture, gait, and gaze https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00907.2017
The brain stem nuclei send projections to multiple thalamic nuclei, including the ventral posterior, ventral lateral, ventral anterior, intralaminar, and even geniculate nuclei https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00907.2017
, including regions located at the junction of the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) with the postcentral sulcus (referred to as area 2v), the fundus of the central sulcus (referred to as area 3av), and the Sylvian fissure with the surrounding peri-Sylvian cortex. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00907.2017
midposterior Sylvian fissure as a site of robust vestibular responses across studies and vestibular stimulation techniques (Lopez et al. 2012; zu Eulenburg et al. 2012). Based on its location and in analogy to the nomenclature used in research on nonhuman primates, this region has been referred to as the parieto-insular vestibular cortex (PIVC) in humans https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00907.2017
In CVS the external auditory canal is stimulated with a tempered medium such as water or gas. Typically, hot or cold is used and the change in temperature relative to body temperature in the middle ear induces convection currents in the endolymph of (primarily) the nearby horizontal semicircular canals in the inner ear. This depolarizes (hot) or hyperpolarizes (cold) the vestibular hair cells and in turn increases or decreases the firing rate of the vestibular nerve afferents
https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00907.2017
The results of recent studies by Angelaki, DeAngelis and colleagues ([48] for review) suggest that neurons in higher-level structures such as extrastriate visual cortex, most notably the dorsal medial superior temporal extrastriate cortex (area MSTd), as well as in ventral intraparietal cortex (area VIP), respond both to motion in darkness as well as to optic flow stimuli. Responses to motion in the dark are eliminated following bilateral labyrinthectomy [49,50], consistent with the proposal that neurons integrate vestibular and visual signals to compute self-motion.
, "The vestibular system: multimodal integration and encoding of self-motion for motor control." ,January 13, 2012, doi:10.1016/j.tins.2011.12.001.
