Vestibular processing during natural self-motion: implications for perception and action

How does the brain compute accurate estimates of our self-motion relative to the world and our orientation relative to gravity? This lecture considers the coding of natural vestibular stimuli from peripheral afferents, to brainstem/cerebellar and thalamocortical pathways, and to the readout of accurate perception and behavior. Notably, our results establish that vestibular and extravestibular signals are selectively combined at the earliest stages of central processing in a context dependent manner. Taken together, our findings advance the understanding of the neural mechanisms that ensure stable perception and accurate behavior as we move through and explore the natural world.