The vestibular system reaches further than we thought.
The vestibular system was long understood as essentially reflexive: stabilising gaze, controlling balance. Over the past two decades it has become clear that vestibular input reaches into spatial memory, attention, aesthetic judgement, and the sense of self. Professor Ferrè has been among the most productive researchers in this territory.
The most striking finding: vestibular stimulation strengthens the anchoring of the self to the body. When that anchoring is disrupted, people can experience depersonalisation and out-of-body states. Gravity, processed through the vestibular system, is part of what keeps the self in place.
"Without precisely timed signals from the inner ear, the brain may question whether it owns the body to which it is connected."
Galvanic vestibular stimulation strengthens the sense of self-ownership and body-bound identity, providing the first direct evidence that gravity processing contributes to the fundamental sense of self. Implications for understanding out-of-body experiences, depersonalisation, and disorders of self-processing.
Ferrè, E.R., Lopez, C., & Haggard, P. (2014). Anchoring the self to the body: vestibular contribution to the sense of self. Psychological Science, 25(11), 2106-2108. doi:10.1177/0956797614547917
A 2018 paper found that aesthetic preferences for vertically aligned stimuli shift with the body's actual orientation relative to gravity. The evaluative dimension of experience, what feels right and what draws us, is partly organised by the same vestibular-gravitational system that keeps us upright.
People show a genuine aesthetic preference for stimuli aligned with the gravitational vertical, and this preference is body-position-dependent: it shifts when the observer is tilted relative to gravity. Connects vestibular-gravitational processing to aesthetic evaluation and emotional valence.
Ferrè, E.R. et al. (2018). The aesthetics of verticality: a gravitational contribution to aesthetic preference. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71(12), 2655-2664. doi:10.1177/1747021817751353
A 2020 review with Patrick Haggard mapped the distributed cortical network through which vestibular input shapes neurocognitive functions, extending from the posterior insula through the inferior parietal cortex and superior temporal gyrus to the premotor cortex. The field's current state-of-the-art reference.
State-of-the-art review mapping the distributed cortical network through which vestibular input shapes spatial cognition, attention, bodily self-consciousness, and emotional processing. Demonstrates that vestibular function extends well beyond the low-level reflex circuits that were historically its focus.
Ferrè, E.R., & Haggard, P. (2020). Vestibular cognition: state-of-the-art and future directions. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 37(7-8), 413-420. doi:10.1080/02643294.2020.1736018
A further 2020 study asked whether the brain's gravity prior, its expectation that objects fall downward, is perceptual or semantic. The answer: perceptual. People judge downward motion faster and more accurately regardless of the object type, meaning gravity is woven into the brain's predictive machinery at a level semantic knowledge cannot override.
Demonstrates that the brain's gravity prior is grounded in perceptual rather than semantic processing: the advantage for downward motion held whether the object was a ball or a rocket. Gravity operates as a deep organising principle in the brain's predictive architecture, not as a conceptual overlay.
Gallagher, M., Torok, A., Klaas, J. et al. (2020). Gravity prior in human behaviour: a perceptual or semantic phenomenon? Experimental Brain Research, 238, 1957-1962. doi:10.1007/s00221-020-05852-5
The 2019 developmental study by Le Gall and colleagues provides the most striking evidence of all: the vestibular perception of gravity through the otoliths is necessary for normal cognitive and motor development. Mice born without functioning otolithic gravisensors showed delays across sensorimotor, spatial, and communicative milestones, and their developmental profile closely resembled validated mouse models of autism. Gravity sensing is a precondition for normal cognitive development, woven into the architecture of mind before conscious experience develops fully.
Using congenital otolithic-deficient mice, this study shows that vestibular graviception is necessary for normal early cognitive-motor development. Pups lacking otolithic gravisensors showed delays in sensorimotor reflexes, spatial guidance, and communication. A critical developmental period dependent on gravity sensing is identified, and the resulting profile closely resembles validated mouse models of autism.
Le Gall, A., Hilber, P., Chesneau, C., Bulla, J., Toulouse, J., Machado, M.L., Philoxene, B., Smith, P.F., & Besnard, S. (2019). The critical role of vestibular graviception during cognitive-motor development. Behavioural Brain Research, 372, 112040. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112040
