Alain Berthoz Research Articles

Teachers' education and "non linearity": simplex perspectives

Starting from 2011, year of the publication in Italy of Alain Berthoz's book on simplexity, an articulated theoretical reflection involved part of the Italian scientific community stimulating an inter-transdisciplinary debate that has generated "non-linear" trajectories of research within the educational field. In particular, the transposition of the theory of simplexity in the teaching-learning process, by postulating an idea of teaching based on a metacognitive approach, has led to the hypothesis of a teacher training model able to promote the exercise of "non-linearity" within the didactic field through the use of simplex properties and principles. In the wake of these reflections, the work presented below describes the results of a study aimed at assessing the reliability of an instrument for measuring the construct of simplexity within the didactic field starting from a specific research experience carried out during training courses for support teachers which were held at the University of Bergamo in 2017

Semiosis and Bio-Mechanism: towards Consilience

In biosemiotics, some oppose the study of sign relations to empirical work on bio-mechanisms. Urging consilience between these views, we show the value of Alain Berthoz’s concept of simplexity. Its heuristic power is to present molecules, cells, organisms and communities as using tricks to self-fabricate by agglomerating ‘simplex’ bio-mechanisms. Their properties enable living systems (including observers) to self-sustain, adapt and, at best, to thrive. But simplexity also empowers agents to engage with their surroundings in novel ways. Life thus not only generates know-how but also social organisation. With languaging, people can act and inhibit: they can also simplexify. As a result, we can see a fruit as ripe, feel when things are awry or behave in ways likely to be judged to be apt. While all living beings make situated use of the historical and the local, humans also bind these with the use of both practices and artifacts. As a result, brains come to emulate what occurs in-between persons and their surroundings. In pursuing the basis for our powers, we focus on inhibition. This simplex trick enables a plant to use dormancy, a bird to learn, and a person to mesh languaging with other aspects of action/perception. Indeed, inhibition enriches human style phenomenology as impersonal resources are used to expand our epistemic horizons. Experience links a self-fabricating body, ancient bio-mechanisms, community-based concerns and epigenetically derived know-how.

La « simplexité » des contes

The tale is not just a linear, sober narrative, but a clever combination of a diegesis of a certain type, a network of images and an implicit philosophy. This is where it differs from both the short story and the fable. As a literary genre, it is less of a « simple form » (Andre Jolles) and more of a « simplex form » (Alain Berthoz). In this context, how to address the question of the simple style in the literary genre of the fairy tale – a genre which leans towards complexity and sophistication, more than simplicity? We will suggest that the literary ideal of simplicity advocated by Perrault, best exemplified in The Fairies, is constructed against the gallant aesthetic which was the source of French fairy tales.

Editorial: The Vestibular System in Cognitive and Memory Processes in Mammalians.

In the nineteenth century Pierre–Jean–Marie Flourens (1825) and Ernst Mach described the vestibular system and its peripheral organs while Robert Barany, rewarded by the Nobel prize in 1914, was the first to investigate vestibular disorders with caloric tests making surgical treatments of the vestibular organ possible. Recently, Graf and Klam (2006) have reminded us that this ancient sensory system appeared more than 500 million years ago. Logically its influence would most likely not be restricted to balance reflexes at the brainstem level; it must have also shaped our brain. The vestibular system is the one sensory organ dedicated to gravity perception, which along with light and oxygen served as a motor of evolution. In the 1950s the groups of Otto–Joachim Grusser in Germany, Wilder Penfield in Canada, and later the group of Alain Berthoz in France, demonstrated in elegant experiments on awake monkey (Guldin and Grusser, 1998), epileptic patient (Penfield, 1957), and neurologically-normal human (Lobel et al., 1999) the existence of vestibular projections to the cortex and how they combine with visual and proprioceptive information. An increasing number of researchers, often fervent disciples, have built on these findings to produce a spate of publications that have consolidated the evidence for a sense of verticality and three-dimensional body representations within the vestibular cortical areas. In the 1990s Paul Smith and colleagues examined vestibular processing in the hippocampus and its role in spatial memory. Exploring this topic in the rodent (Smith, 1997), they began to elucidate the secrets and the previously silent functions of the vestibular system. These findings led to increasing clarity about how vestibular degeneration may be related to some aspects of dementia (Previc, 2013), psychiatric diseases (Gurvich et al., 2013), and cognitive impairments in the elderly (Bigelow et al., 2015; Semenov et al., 2015). The research by Marianne Dieterich and Thomas Brandt has examined the bilateral organization of multiple multisensory cortical areas and revealed the vestibular dominance of the non-dominant hemisphere (Dieterich et al., 2003). They addressed the following questions: how is one global percept of motion and orientation in space formed, and does this dominance determine the lateralization of brain function such as handedness (Brandt and Dieterich, 2015)? A vestibular contribution to the most crucial aspects of the human sense of self and self-consciousness has recently been highlighted by neurological and neuroscientific investigations: vestibular signals contribute to the experience that the self is located within the boundaries of the body (Blanke et al., 2004; Lopez et al., 2008) and may even be involved in self-other discrimination and interactions (Lenggenhager and Lopez, 2015). In this Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience Research Topic initiated by Sidney Simon, twenty-four articles highlight recent discoveries in the field of vestibular cognition, including: (1) Anatomy of the vestibulo-cortical pathways; (2) Spatial navigation and memory; (3) Spatial cognition, bodily and self-motion perception; (4) Vestibular stimulation and rehabilitation; (5) Posture and motor control; (6) Vestibular disorders and compensation; and (7) Development of vestibular function.

Towards creative vicariance

This interview raises the issue of the realities of illusion, based on the interpretation of the vicariance concept developed by Alain Berthoz in the book entitled La Vicariance. Le cerveau créateur de mondes, published in 2013 (Odile Jacob). A series of issues are examined: the difference between illusion and hallucination; the dual dimension of vicariance as substitution and creation; the link between vicariance and the notions of diversity and one’s own environment; the processes of creation in relation with this vicariance strategy; and finally virtual reality as a vicariant reality, in which avatars constitute doubles allowing for the immersion in these virtual worlds.

Simplex didactics: A non-linear trajectory for research in education.

The concept of simplexity, as proposed by Alain Berthoz, is based on the assumption that solutions elaborated by living organisms to decipher and face complexity could be applicable to all complex adaptive systems. Within the pedagogical and didactic context the proposal of the French physiologist could provide a scientific research trajectory aiming at solving the tension between theory, praxis, descriptive approaches and practical needs. Thus, simplexity seems to be an operational strategy based on the identification of the principles that rule and guide the didactic action through patterns of adaptation, which allow to decipher complexity in terms of data elaboration and decision making among different opportunities.

IKEWYSE - I KNOW WHAT YOU SEE AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL FOR PERSPECTIVE-TAKING SKILLS

Research on narrative and interaction with pedagogical studies which refer to disciplines that require strong immersion for the acquisition of knowledge in areas such as museum education lead scholars to question the importance of perspective taking. This work represents the evolution for educational purposes of a narrative video game designed for the measurement of perspective taking skills. Perspective taking skills, or the ability to change point of view, involve the need for a mental rotation, in relation to the environment or to an object in the environment, while maintaining a main perspective environment in question. This is the key feature, for Alain Berthoz, of empathy. Empathy is a dynamic process that requires a doubling, it is to adopt an egocentric point of view, but after an allocentric manipulation, while inhibiting the emotional contagion, which is rather typical of sympathy. Empathy is a process considered to be particularly relevant in the field of education. Historically, the interest of the educational community focused on the empathic abilities of the teacher, primarily due to the influence of the work of Carl Rogers. The main goal of this research is to design an smart environment that allows to intervene in adaptive way on the empathic abilities of the students, working on their perspective taking skills, and to analyze the different building blocks that may be used to create the proposed educational tools. The prototype of the narrative game from which this study started is aimed at assessing the age at which students develop perspective-taking and mental rotation skills. The present study shifts the focus of research from skills measuring to skills training. The specific educational needs have led to a complete re-design of the application and to the introduction of a semantic layer that can adaptively support user whit ad hoc feedback. This paper presents the spatial theory of empathy framework, describes the narrative game prototype, an smart environment aimed at measuring the perspective taking skills, and introduces the design of a specific ontology for the educational version.

Simplexity, Teaching and Movement

Alain Berthoz, contrasts with the complexity term, the word “simplexity” indicating a property of living beings, which over time have learned to develop increasingly sophisticated solutions to process an increasing number of information. The simplexity is what gives meaning to simplification, since the simplexes solutions are guided by an intention, a purpose, a function. This theory can become an instructional scaffolding that supports both the student, and the teacher in the teaching- learning process. The simplexity has to be ascribed therefore, between those which constitute innovations in education.Educational Technologies simplexes show an operative strategy towards new forms of implementation, able to conjugate effectively with the current views of teaching, giving the body a central role in learning.Currently, the school excludes the component body underestimating the role of the body in motion as a main device through which, creating experiences, we develop learning and produce knowledge.From the studies conducted, it is clear, as today the body represents a machine of knowledge, so the abstraction and generalizations can produce useful learning only if they have been built from the experience of the world body. To this end, in our project we have tried to combine the learning of mathematics with the bodily component, all referring to the principles of simplexity.Our goal is to give life to a teaching able to activate a plurality of interactions and stimulate various body mechanisms from which derive the processes of signification and meaning attribution.

Neuro-Ophthalmology in France

Interest in neuro-ophthalmology in France dates back to the 19th century with the publications by an ophthalmologist, Henri Parinaud, a collaborator of Jean-Martin Charcot in Paris. At that time, a physiologist, Claude Bernard, and a neurologist, Eugène Devic, participated in the description of various neuro-ophthalmologic syndromes. In the 1930s, academic neurologists in Paris, including Pierre Mollaret, Georges Guillain and later Jérôme Garcin, Jean Lapresle, and Mongi Ben Hamida, worked closely with specific ophthalmologists, like Hoang Xuan Man, and published original clinical cases related to neuro-ophthalmology. In the 1970s, neuro-ophthalmology emerged as a distinct subspecialty practiced by a few nonsurgical ophthalmologists, like Monique Schaison-Cusin, who saw patients in the neurology and neurosurgery departments of Pitié Salpétrière Hospital in Paris. With reform of residency training in the early 1980s, ophthalmology primarily became a surgically oriented specialty and trainees lost the opportunity to choose ophthalmology as a medical specialty, thereby precluding training in neuro-ophthalmology. This led the last generations of French ophthalmologists to have little interest in neuro-ophthalmology, yet at the same time a number of investigators became interested in eye movement disorders. These included Pierre Larmande, Charles Pierrot-Deseilligny, Alain Berthoz, and Marc Jeannerod. They developed eye movement laboratories that attracted a number of neurologists and scientists over the past few decades. French neuro-ophthalmology is usually performed part-time either by ophthalmologists or neurologists or in some locations by combined teams. Approximately, 30 clinicians currently practice neuro-ophthalmology on a regular basis in France. Two thirds of them are ophthalmologists, and most are located in academic medical centers. Three major factors have led to a dramatic increase in educational, clinical, and research activity in neuro-ophthalmology in France. First was the creation 15 years ago of a post-graduate university diploma in neuro-ophthalmology. Since then, the registration has remained full each year (60 trainees). This program spurred creation of a French textbook of neuro-ophthalmology (1). Currently, neuro-ophthalmology is included in the educational programs of ophthalmology residents and is expected to be part of the curriculum of neurology residents very soon. A number of organizations provide grant support for neuro-ophthalmology training and include Berthe Fouassier Price [Fondation de France], Société Française d’Ophtalmologie, Année recherche; Institut Servier, Fondation Planiol, Fondation Philips. These grants allow young French ophthalmologists or neurologists to train in neuro-ophthalmology centers outside of France, primarily in the United States and United Kingdom. Second, in 2003, the “Club de Neuro-Ophtalmologie Francophone” (CNOF) was established. This organization allows all clinicians interested in neuro-ophthalmology in France and French-speaking countries (Switzerland, Belgium, and for the 2014 meeting, Morocco) to share material related to clinical care, research, and education. Since its creation, the CNOF has successfully organized 3 national meetings every year, including 1 specific event and 2 events included within those, the French Society of Neurology (JNLF) and the French Society of Ophthalmology (SFO) meetings. Following the 2004 meeting of the French Society of Ophthalmology, a French textbook on neuro-ophthalmology was published (2). Three collaborative research projects have emerged from the CNOF: a survey of idiopathic intracranial hypertension in France (3); a multicenter study of recurrent optic neuritis to be published soon; and a survey of the incidence of optic neuritis in France. Recently, a website (http://www.neuro-ophtalmologie-club.org) was launched. The annual CNOF meeting takes place in different cities (Fig. 1), and the steady increase of the number of participants reflects the growing interest in neuro-ophthalmology. CNOF offers 2 travel grants a year for young investigators to allow them to attend international neuro-ophthalmology meetings.FIG. 1: Number of participants and location of annual meeting of Club Francophone de Neuro-Opthalmologie.Third, neuro-ophthalmology in France has developed an international focus. An increasing number of ophthalmologists and neurologists have been trained in the United Kingdom and the United States over the past 20 years, allowing for international collaborative projects, multiple international publications, and participations in international clinical, research, and educational meetings. In 2010, a very successful meeting of the International Neuro-Ophthalmology was held in Lyon. Neuro-ophthalmology in France has made great strides in recent years. We are excited about an even brighter future! ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors are grateful to Valerie Biousse for her assistance.

Sentence reading is supported by a large-scale network of correlated gamma-band fluctuations

Event Abstract Back to Event Sentence reading is supported by a large-scale network of correlated gamma-band fluctuations Jean-Philippe Lachaux1*, Juan Vidal1, Samson Freyermuth2, Karim Jerbi1, Alain Berthoz2 and Philippe Kahane1 1 INSERM, France 2 CNRS, France Several hundreds of neuroimaging studies have led to a growing consensus regarding the brain regions supporting reading, mostly located in the left inferior frontal, parietal and temporal lobes. Despite general agreement that those regions interact and form a network - the reading network – direct support for this claim is still lacking. While fMRI can be used to reveal correlations between regional metabolic demands, neural interactions can only be revealed with direct measures of neural activity. We obtained intracerebral neural recordings in twelve patients performing a simple sentence reading task contrasting semantic, phonological and purely visual processes. We recorded from most regions supporting reading and found that the reading network is, indeed, a network, supported by correlated amplitude fluctuations in the gamma-band (40 to 150 Hz). The task-sensitivity of this marker was sufficient to reveal the functional organization of the reading network, even in single trials and in real-time. In addition, single-subject analysis revealed clear-cut functional dissociations within the ventral occipitotemporal cortex and the inferior frontal cortex over distances less than five millimeters, beyond the resolution of neuroimaging group studies. Funding: This work was supported by a grant from the EC - Fp7 - Brainsync. Keywords: gamma band, Language Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Neural Bases of Language Citation: Lachaux J, Vidal J, Freyermuth S, Jerbi K, Berthoz A and Kahane P (2011). Sentence reading is supported by a large-scale network of correlated gamma-band fluctuations. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00180 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 18 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Jean-Philippe Lachaux, INSERM, Lyon, France, jp.lachaux@inserm.fr Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Jean-Philippe Lachaux Juan Vidal Samson Freyermuth Karim Jerbi Alain Berthoz Philippe Kahane Google Jean-Philippe Lachaux Juan Vidal Samson Freyermuth Karim Jerbi Alain Berthoz Philippe Kahane Google Scholar Jean-Philippe Lachaux Juan Vidal Samson Freyermuth Karim Jerbi Alain Berthoz Philippe Kahane PubMed Jean-Philippe Lachaux Juan Vidal Samson Freyermuth Karim Jerbi Alain Berthoz Philippe Kahane Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Computational Models of Human Movement

Dinesh Pai, Professor at the University of Vancouver (Canada), invited by the Assembly of the Professors on the proposition of Prof Alain Berthoz. He gave in May and June 2009 four lectures entitled:Computational Models of Human Movement1. Creating virtual objects that look, feel, and sound real2. Automated capture of human movement and object behaviour3. What robots teach us about human movement4. Modeling the neurobiology of human movement

Space, Time, and Story Tracks: Contemporary Practices of Topographic Memory in the Palikur Territory of Arukwa, Amapá, Brazil

Using data collected during ethnographic fieldwork in the Palikur lands known as Arukwa along the Rio Urucauá in the Área Indígena do Uaçá, in Amapá, Brazil, we seek to expand current understandings of Arawakan oral forms of mapping that involve the listing of place-names. This article argues that the practice demonstrates a form of cartographic imagination that is based on a different theorization of the relationship between space and time. Contrasting the formal technology of cartography with the Palikur performative representations of “spatiotemporality,” this article argues that the former approach is inadequate to the task of understanding the practice of listing place-names insofar as it separates body, temporality, and sky from place. Moreover, the spatiotemporal approach described indexes not one but multiple temporalities, including the autobiographical, ecological, astronomical, genealogical, and historical. Drawing on the notion of “topokinetic memory” described by neuroscientist Alain Berthoz (2000) and on ethnographic material collected during a journey on the Rio Urucauá, this analysis distinguishes between story maps as the practice of representational memory of space (such as the listing of landmarks on routes) and “story tracks” as performances of orientation that accompany the telling of stories about journeys, or along them. Proposing that both modes of memory are important in everyday life, we argue that the story track constitutes a practice of topographic memory that relies on the perspective of earth, sky, and underworld afforded by the moving, perceiving, conscious, and responsive person. Understood in this way, the listing of place-names is a form of cartographic imagination that incorporates history, geography, astronomy, ethics, and the self.

Parallel acquisition of allocentric and egocentric navigation strategies in the human brain

Event Abstract Back to Event Parallel acquisition of allocentric and egocentric navigation strategies in the human brain Kinga Igloi1*, Christian Doeller2, Alain Berthoz1, Neil Burgess2 and Laure Rondi-Reig3 1 LPPA College de France, France 2 ICN UCL, France 3 CNRS, NPA UPMC, France Navigation in a complex environment can rely on the use of different spatial strategies. We focused on allocentric (or encoding interrelationships among environmental cues, movements, and the location of the goal) and sequential egocentric (or sequences of body turns associated with specific choice points) strategies. Traditional questions on learning speed and hierarchy between strategies are still debated. Here we adapted a novel spatial paradigm, developed for rodents, first in a behavioral study then for use with fMRI in humans and asked the question if allocentric and egocentric strategies are acquired in parallel. We first investigated spontaneous or imposed choice and switches between these two spatial strategies in a behavioral study: our results show bi-directional strategy switches, suggesting no temporal or performance-related hierarchy between strategies. Second, using fMRI, we showed that allocentric navigation activates a neural network comprising the right hippocampus, ventral and dorsal striatum and the precuneus; whereas sequential egocentric navigation involves the left hippocampus, ventral and dorsal striatum and the posterior insula. We further report parallel activation of the main neural structures identified in both strategies (bilateral hippocampus, precuneus, striatum, insula) during the initial learning process, thus confirming parallel acquisition of these two strategies. Additionally, medial prefrontal activation could be linked to cognitive control and monitoring of available strategies during learning. Interestingly, both strategies can be identified in hippocampal activity prior to their expression in behavior. We show that, activation of the right hippocampus supports the allocentric strategy (memory for places), while activation of the left hippocampus supports the sequential egocentric strategy (memory for temporal sequences), which can be used to support both spatial navigation and episodic memory more generally. Conference: 41st European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting, Rhodes Island, Greece, 13 Sep - 18 Sep, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster presentations Citation: Igloi K, Doeller C, Berthoz A, Burgess N and Rondi-Reig L (2009). Parallel acquisition of allocentric and egocentric navigation strategies in the human brain. Conference Abstract: 41st European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.08.2009.09.177 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 10 Jun 2009; Published Online: 10 Jun 2009. * Correspondence: Kinga Igloi, LPPA College de France, Paris, France, kinga.igloi@college-de-france.fr Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Kinga Igloi Christian Doeller Alain Berthoz Neil Burgess Laure Rondi-Reig Google Kinga Igloi Christian Doeller Alain Berthoz Neil Burgess Laure Rondi-Reig Google Scholar Kinga Igloi Christian Doeller Alain Berthoz Neil Burgess Laure Rondi-Reig PubMed Kinga Igloi Christian Doeller Alain Berthoz Neil Burgess Laure Rondi-Reig Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

A new view on moving

![][1] The brain's sense of movement by Alain Berthoz Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 352 pages US$ 45.00, UK£ 30.95 0‐674‐80109‐1 Co‐ordinated movement in time and space is at the core of animal life, so it is certainly worthwhile summing up and explaining our current knowledge about the neurophysiology of moving. Alain Berthoz, Director of the Laboratory of Physiology of Perception and Action at the College de France, has recently written an extensive treatise on this topic. The reader who just expects a detailed description of how movements are controlled by the brain will be surprised by the wide scope of biological, physiological and philosophical problems that Berthoz comes up with. Indeed, it becomes clear throughout the book that our current knowledge of the hardware of sensory and motor systems may be enough to create artificial movements in robots—an aspect also touched upon in the book—but it is certainly not enough to grasp the full depth of this important aspect of animal life. Without detailed knowledge about how vertebrates perceive their environment, further ideas would be futile. Consequently, Berthoz explains the neurophysiological machinery in great detail when it is … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif

Functional MRI of galvanic vestibular stimulation.

The cortical processing of vestibular information is not hierarchically organized as the processing of signals in the visual and auditory modalities. Anatomic and electrophysiological studies in the monkey revealed the existence of multiple interconnected areas in which vestibular signals converge with visual and/or somatosensory inputs. Although recent functional imaging studies using caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS) suggest that vestibular signals in the human cerebral cortex may be similarly distributed, some areas that apparently form essential constituents of the monkey cortical vestibular system have not yet been identified in humans. Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) has been used for almost 200 years for the exploration of the vestibular system. By contrast with CVS, which mediates its effects mainly via the semicircular canals (SCC), GVS has been shown to act equally on SCC and otolith afferents. Because galvanic stimuli can be controlled precisely, GVS is suited ideally for the investigation of the vestibular cortex by means of functional imaging techniques. We studied the brain areas activated by sinusoidal GVS using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). An adapted set-up including LC filters tuned for resonance at the Larmor frequency protected the volunteers against burns through radio-frequency pickup by the stimulation electrodes. Control experiments ensured that potentially harmful effects or degradation of the functional images did not occur. Six male, right-handed volunteers participated in the study. In all of them, GVS induced clear perceptions of body movement and moderate cutaneous sensations at the electrode sites. Comparison with anatomic data on the primate cortical vestibular system and with imaging studies using somatosensory stimulation indicated that most activation foci could be related to the vestibular component of the stimulus. Activation appeared in the region of the temporo-parietal junction, the central sulcus, and the intraparietal sulcus. These areas may be analogous to areas PIVC, 3aV, and 2v, respectively, which form in the monkey brain, the "inner vestibular circle". Activation also occurred in premotor regions of the frontal lobe. Although undetected in previous imaging-studies using CVS, involvement of these areas could be predicted from anatomic data showing projections from the anterior ventral part of area 6 to the inner vestibular circle and the vestibular nuclei. Using a simple paradigm, we showed that GVS can be implemented safely in the fMRI environment. Manipulating stimulus waveforms and thus the GVS-induced subjective vestibular sensations in future imaging studies may yield further insights into the cortical processing of vestibular signals.