Vestibular pathology and spatial working memory

Abstract

Thanks to wide central connections the vestibular system is not merely involved in reflexes, but it is also connected to cognitive processes. A growing body of literature suggests that it has a substantial impact on cognitive function. These cognitive interactions include memory, attention, mental imagery, body awareness and social cognition. Spatial working memory (SWM) is a kind of short-term memory that allows to temporarily store and manipulate spatial information. It has a limited capacity and is quite vulnerable to interference. The single most important nonverbal task for assessment of visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) is the Corsi block tapping task (CBTT), also known as the Corsi Span Test. We evaluated 263 patients suffering from chronic unilateral or bilateral vestibular loss (VL) by eCorsi Block-Tapping test before and after 5 days of instrumental vestibular training (IVT). The data were compared with those of 834 subjects submitted to the same test: 430 healthy people (HP) and 404 patients suffering from chronic VL but not treated by IVT. At all ages, the Corsi block test score was extremely statistically significantly higher (p < 0.0001) in HP than in both groups of VL. The score showed a statistically significant difference with age and sex in healthy subjects as younger males obtained the best results. Our study confirms the significant interference of the vestibular input on VSWM and impairment of this cognitive function in patients suffering from chronic UL or BIL. It also shows that IVT is able to improve VSWM even in cases where the deficit is greater. KEY WORDS: spatial working memory, corsi block-tapping test, vestibular pathology, vestibular rehabilitation training RIASSUNTO Grazie ad ampie connessioni centrali il sistema vestibolare non evoca solo riflessi ma è anche collegato a processi cognitivi. Un numero sempre maggiore di studi suggerisce che ha un impatto sostanziale sulle funzioni cognitive. Queste interazioni cognitive comprendono la memoria, l'attenzione, l'immaginario mentale, la consapevolezza del corpo e la cognizione sociale. La memoria operativa spaziale è un tipo di memoria a breve termine che consente di archiviare e manipolare temporaneamente le informazioni spaziali. Ha una capacità limitata ed è piuttosto vulnerabile alle interferenze. Il test non verbale più importante per la valutazione della memoria di lavoro visuo-spaziale (VSWM) è il test a blocchi di Corsi, noto anche come il Test di span di Corsi. A tal fine, abbiamo valutato col test eCorsi Block-Tapping 263 pazienti affetti da deficit vestibolare cronico unilaterale o bilaterale (VL), prima e dopo 5 giorni di training vestibolare strumentale (IVT). I dati sono stati confrontati con quelli di altri 834 soggetti sottoposti allo stesso test: 430 persone sane (HP) e 404 pazienti affetti da VL cronica ma non trattati con IVT. A tutte le età il punteggio del test di Corsi era significativamente più alto (p < 0,0001) negli HP rispetto a entrambi i gruppi di VL. Il punteggio era significativamente più alto anche nei g...

Sport as a Factor in Improving Visual Spatial Cognitive Deficits in Patients with Hearing Loss and Chronic Vestibular Deficit

“…The comparison between males and females reveals a small but significant male advantage on average, as it was often observed in VSWM tests [ 25 , 39 , 40 ] after adolescence.…”

“…Both CVF and ENS have a statistically lower score than NORM ( p < 0.0001), as shown in Table 1 . Previous studies showed that the score difference between subjects with unilateral and bilateral CVF is not significant ( p = 0.0734) [ 25 ].…”

“…The balance training proved effective in improving SWM in healthy people [ 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Vestibular rehabilitation [ 25 ] and auditory and cognitive training [ 26 , 27 ] proved effective in improving the SWM, and also in-patient suffering from chronic vestibular deficit and hearing loss.…”

The Differential Effects of Acute Right- vs. Left-Sided Vestibular Deafferentation on Spatial Cognition in Unilateral Labyrinthectomized Mice

“…Spatial cognition is the ability of an animal to keep track of its location in space by recalling where it has been, which is known as spatial memory (1,2). Spatial cognition serves as the foundation for spatial navigation, which is the ability to move appropriately and purposefully through the environment (3,4). Recent studies have demonstrated that the hippocampus plays a critical role in spatial memory consolidation and transitory storage (5,6), and the peripheral vestibular organs are highly connected via several pathways including the thalamocortical and cerebellocortical pathways mediating head direction information (7)(8)(9).…”

“…Recent studies have demonstrated that the hippocampus plays a critical role in spatial memory consolidation and transitory storage (5,6), and the peripheral vestibular organs are highly connected via several pathways including the thalamocortical and cerebellocortical pathways mediating head direction information (7)(8)(9). Therefore, the vestibular system is suggested to play a critical role in maintaining accurate spatial awareness (2,4). Unlike other sensory cortices, the vestibular cortex consists of a network of several distinct and separate areas centered in the insular-opercular region (2,4,7).…”