Grant: Operating Grant

If you have ever looked over the edge of a cliff and felt dizzy, you understand the challenges faced by people who suffer from symptoms of vestibular dysfunction such as vertigo and dizziness. There are over 70 million of them in North America. For people with vestibular loss, performing basic daily living activities that we take for granted (e.g. dressing, eating, getting in and out of bed, getting around inside as well as outside the home) becomes difficult since even small head movements are accompanied by dizziness and the risk of falling. Our current understanding of how the brain constructs our perceptions of ourselves is based on artificial stimuli. However, our preliminary data suggests that how the brain constructs our perception of ourselves in motion is quite different during natural activities. Thus, we will address how the brain takes in and decodes information sent by neurons in the inner ear during natural everyday activities to develop a new theoretical framework. In turn, this framework will lead to better diagnosis and treatment strategies for patients suffering from vestibular dysfunction.