Functional brain imaging of multi-sensory vestibular processing during computerized dynamic posturography using near-infrared spectroscopy

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive brain imaging method that uses light to record regional changes in cerebral blood flow in the cortex during activation. fNIRS uses portable wearable sensors to allow measurements of brain activation during tasking. In this study, fNIRS was used to investigate how the brain processes information from multiple sensory modalities during dynamic posturography. Fifteen healthy volunteers (9M/6F; ages 28+/-9 yrs) participated in the posturography study while undergoing fNIRS brain imaging. Four standard conditions from the sensory organization test (SOT) were performed and a bilateral fNIRS probe was used to examine the cortical brain responses from the frontal, temporal, and parietal brain regions. We found that there was bilateral activation in the temporal-parietal areas (superior temporal gyrus, STG, and supramarginal gyrus, SMG) when both vision and proprioceptive information were degraded; forcing reliance on primarily vestibular information in the control of balance. This is consistent with previous reports of the role of these regions in vestibular control and demonstrates the potential utility of fNIRS in the study of cortical control of vestibular function during standing balance tasks.