Vestibular Activation Differentially Modulates Excitability and Response Entropy in Human V5/MT and Early Visual Cortex.
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Head movement imposes the additional burdens on the visual system of maintaining visual-acuity and determining the origin of retinal image motion (i.e. self-motion versus object-motion). Although maintaining visual acuity during self-motion is effected by minimising retinal slip via the brainstem vestibular-ocular reflex, higher-order visuo-vestibular mechanisms also contribute. Disambiguating self-motion versus object-motion also invokes higher-order mechanisms and a cortical visuo-vestibular reciprocal antagonism is propounded. Hence one prediction is of a vestibular modulation of visual cortical excitability and indirect measures have variously suggested none, focal or global effects of activation or suppression in human visual cortex. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation-induced phosphenes to probe cortical excitability, we observed decreased V5/MT excitability versus increased Early Visual Cortex (EVC) excitability, during vestibular activation. In order to exclude non-specific effects (e.g. arousal) on cortical excitability, response specificity was assessed using information theory, specifically response entropy. Vestibular activation significantly modulated phosphene response entropy for V5/MT but not EVC, implying a specific vestibular effect on V5/MT responses. This is the first demonstration that vestibular activation modulates human visual cortex excitability. Furthermore, using information theory, not previously used in phosphene response analysis, we could distinguish between a specific vestibular modulation of V5/MT excitability from a non-specific effect at EVC.
Editor(s)
Petersen, S
Date Issued
2012-01-30
Date Acceptance
2012-01-01
Citation
Cerebral Cortex, 2012, 23 (1), pp.12-19
ISSN
1047-3211
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Start Page
12
End Page
19
Journal / Book Title
Cerebral Cortex
Volume
23
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Authors 2012. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
08.05.15 KB. OK to add published oa paper to spiral,
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000312106300002&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Publication Status
Published