Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago Medical School Dunedin, New Zealand.
Front Neurol. 2010 Nov 17;1:141. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2010.00141. eCollection 2010.
For decades it has been speculated that there is a close association between the vestibular system and spatial memories constructed by areas of the brain such as the hippocampus. While many animal studies have been conducted which support this relationship, only in the last 10 years have detailed quantitative studies been carried out in patients with vestibular disorders. The majority of these studies suggest that complete bilateral vestibular loss results in spatial memory deficits that are not simply due to vestibular reflex dysfunction, while the effects of unilateral vestibular damage are more complex and subtle. Very recently, reports have emerged that sub-threshold, noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation can enhance memory in humans, although this has not been investigated for spatial memory as yet. These studies add to the increasing evidence that suggests a connection between vestibular sensory information and memory in humans.
几十年来，人们一直推测，前庭系统与大脑中海马等区域构建的空间记忆之间存在密切关联。虽然已经进行了许多支持这种关系的动物研究，但直到最近 10 年，才有详细的定量研究在前庭障碍患者中进行。这些研究大多表明，双侧前庭完全丧失会导致空间记忆缺陷，而不仅仅是由于前庭反射功能障碍，单侧前庭损伤的影响则更为复杂和微妙。最近有报道称，阈下、嘈杂的电前庭刺激可以增强人类的记忆，尽管尚未对此进行空间记忆的研究。这些研究增加了越来越多的证据，表明前庭感觉信息与人类记忆之间存在联系。
