The Vestibular System: A Sixth Sense

Abstract

This book presents an integrative look at the sense that Aristotle missed. The vestibular system plays a vital role in everyday life, contributing to a surprising range of functions from reflexes to the highest levels of perception and consciousness. This text not only offers a review of the basics sensory transduction, the neurophysiology of peripheral and central pathways, and how vestibular signals are processed in the control of gaze and posture; it moves the discussion forward with its attention to the current research and the field's revolutionary advances, such as the understanding of neural correlates of self-motion and the basis of clinical disorders. In addition, the objective presentation of existing controversies is exciting reading and an extremely important contribution to the text's completeness.