The remediative effect of galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) was investigated in a patient who, following right hemisphere damage, is profoundly unable to recognize faces. We administered a two-alternative forced choice match-to-sample task in which the patient had to choose which of two faces matched a sample face presented directly above, while bipolar, transcutaneous current was applied to the left and right vestibular nerves at a level below the patient's sensory threshold. Performance improved beyond the chance-level observed prestimulation, and relied on reversing the electrode polarity across two separate blocks of trials, such that each mastoid received positive current for one block and then negative charge for the next. Although our study involved only a single case, the data provide preliminary evidence that a deficit in perceptual face matching can be reduced by GVS. This raises the intriguing possibility that other unilateral visual disorders may also respond in such a manner.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1355617705051076 | DOI Listing |
Exp Brain Res
January 2025
School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London, Malet St, London, WC1E 7HX, UK.
Verticality is the perception of what's upright relative to gravity. The vestibular system provides information about the head's orientation relative to gravity, while visual cues influence the perception of external objects' alignment with the vertical. According to Bayesian integration, the perception of verticality depends on the relative reliability of visual and vestibular cues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExp Brain Res
January 2025
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510080, China.
Vestibular dysfunction has been reported as a potential cause in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). However, it remained unclear how stochastic galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) affected kinetic performance of patients with AIS. This study aimed to investigate the effect of stochastic GVS on ground reaction forces (GRF) measures during obstacle negotiation among patients with AIS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Hum Neurosci
December 2024
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Introduction: Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) is a simple, safe, and noninvasive method of neurostimulation that can be used to improve body balance. Several central nervous system diseases cause alterations in body balance, including HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM).
Objective: To test GVS as a balance rehabilitation strategy for HAM.
In sensory perception, stochastic resonance (SR) refers to the application of noise to enhance information transfer, allowing for the sensing of lower-level stimuli. Previously, subjective-assessments identified SR in vestibular perceptual thresholds, assessed using a standard two alternative (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExp Brain Res
December 2024
Motor Behavior and Adapted Physical Activity Laboratory, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Imperceptible noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) improves standing balance due to the presence of stochastic resonance (SR). There is, however, a lack of consensus regarding the optimal levels and type of noise used to elicit SR like dynamics. We aimed to confirm the presence of SR behavior in the vestibular system of young healthy adults by examining postural responses to increasing amplitudes of white and pink noise stimulation scaled to individual cutaneous perceptual threshold.
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