A neuroscientific account of how vestibular disorders impair bodily self-consciousness

The consequences of vestibular disorders on balance, oculomotor control and self-motion perception have been extensively described in humans and animals. More recently, vestibular disorders have been related to cognitive deficits in spatial navigation and memory tasks. Less frequently, abnormal bodi...

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Main Author: Christophe eLopez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2013-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2013.00091/full
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author Christophe eLopez
author_facet Christophe eLopez
author_sort Christophe eLopez
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description The consequences of vestibular disorders on balance, oculomotor control and self-motion perception have been extensively described in humans and animals. More recently, vestibular disorders have been related to cognitive deficits in spatial navigation and memory tasks. Less frequently, abnormal bodily perceptions have been described in patients with vestibular disorders. Altered forms of bodily self-consciousness include distorted body image and body schema, disembodied self-location (out-of-body experience), altered sense of agency, as well as more complex experiences of dissociation and detachment from the self (depersonalization). In this article, I suggest that vestibular disorders create sensory conflict or mismatch in multisensory brain regions, producing perceptual incoherence and abnormal body and self perceptions. This hypothesis is based on recent functional mapping of the human vestibular cortex, showing vestibular projections to the primary and secondary somatosensory cortex and in several multisensory areas found to be crucial for bodily self-consciousness.
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spelling doaj.art-4006f431ecfb4d6cae4893f1462dafea2022-12-22T02:20:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience1662-51452013-12-01710.3389/fnint.2013.0009172622A neuroscientific account of how vestibular disorders impair bodily self-consciousnessChristophe eLopez0Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)The consequences of vestibular disorders on balance, oculomotor control and self-motion perception have been extensively described in humans and animals. More recently, vestibular disorders have been related to cognitive deficits in spatial navigation and memory tasks. Less frequently, abnormal bodily perceptions have been described in patients with vestibular disorders. Altered forms of bodily self-consciousness include distorted body image and body schema, disembodied self-location (out-of-body experience), altered sense of agency, as well as more complex experiences of dissociation and detachment from the self (depersonalization). In this article, I suggest that vestibular disorders create sensory conflict or mismatch in multisensory brain regions, producing perceptual incoherence and abnormal body and self perceptions. This hypothesis is based on recent functional mapping of the human vestibular cortex, showing vestibular projections to the primary and secondary somatosensory cortex and in several multisensory areas found to be crucial for bodily self-consciousness.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2013.00091/fullTouchbody schemabody imagemultisensory integrationvestibular systemcaloric vestibular stimulation
spellingShingle Christophe eLopez
A neuroscientific account of how vestibular disorders impair bodily self-consciousness
Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
Touch
body schema
body image
multisensory integration
vestibular system
caloric vestibular stimulation
title A neuroscientific account of how vestibular disorders impair bodily self-consciousness
title_full A neuroscientific account of how vestibular disorders impair bodily self-consciousness
title_fullStr A neuroscientific account of how vestibular disorders impair bodily self-consciousness
title_full_unstemmed A neuroscientific account of how vestibular disorders impair bodily self-consciousness
title_short A neuroscientific account of how vestibular disorders impair bodily self-consciousness
title_sort neuroscientific account of how vestibular disorders impair bodily self consciousness
topic Touch
body schema
body image
multisensory integration
vestibular system
caloric vestibular stimulation
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2013.00091/full
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