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Mental transformation abilities in patients with unilateral and bilateral vestibular loss

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Abstract

Vestibular information helps to establish a reliable gravitational frame of reference and contributes to the adequate perception of the location of one’s own body in space. This information is likely to be required in spatial cognitive tasks. Indeed, previous studies suggest that the processing of vestibular information is involved in mental transformation tasks in healthy participants. In this study, we investigate whether patients with bilateral or unilateral vestibular loss show impaired ability to mentally transform images of bodies and body parts compared to a healthy, age-matched control group. An egocentric and an object-based mental transformation task were used. Moreover, spatial perception was assessed using a computerized version of the subjective visual vertical and the rod and frame test. Participants with bilateral vestibular loss showed impaired performance in mental transformation, especially in egocentric mental transformation, compared to participants with unilateral vestibular lesions and the control group. Performance of participants with unilateral vestibular lesions and the control group are comparable, and no differences were found between right- and left-sided labyrinthectomized patients. A control task showed no differences between the three groups. The findings from this study substantiate that central vestibular processes are involved in imagined spatial body transformations; but interestingly, only participants with bilateral vestibular loss are affected, whereas unilateral vestibular loss does not lead to a decline in spatial imagery.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the participants for volunteering to participate, Nikola Sanz and Aurélie Manuel for assistance with data collection, Michael Vögeli for his support in programming and Claudia Blum for designing the stimuli. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. This study was funded by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (Sinergia project “Balancing Self and Body”).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Muesmattstr. 45, 3009, Bern, Switzerland

    Luzia Grabherr & Fred W. Mast

  2. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Cyril Cuffel & Jean-Philippe Guyot

Authors
  1. Luzia Grabherr
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  2. Cyril Cuffel
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  3. Jean-Philippe Guyot
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  4. Fred W. Mast
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Correspondence to Fred W. Mast.

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Grabherr, L., Cuffel, C., Guyot, JP. et al. Mental transformation abilities in patients with unilateral and bilateral vestibular loss. Exp Brain Res 209, 205–214 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-011-2535-0

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