an fMRI study of the human whole body instability

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25291109
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Applied anthropology
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan University
• Principal Investigator: KIKUCHI Yoshiaki 首都大学東京, 人間健康科学研究科, 教授 (50134739)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 則内 まどか 首都大学東京, 人間健康科学研究科, 客員研究員 (20571897) ; 跡見 友章 帝京科学大学, 医療科学部, 講師 (80611285)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 脳 / fMRI / 身体 / 不安定 / バランス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although the neural substrate underlying automatic detection of one’s own body instability is an important consideration, there have ever been few functional neuroimaging studies due to the restrictions placed on participants’ movements. Here, we used fMRI to investigate the neural substrate underlying whole body instability based on a self-recognition paradigm. Analyses revealed significant activity in the brain regions that should be activated during genuine unstable body (physical) conditions: the right parieto-insular vestibular cortex, inferior frontal junction, posterior insula and parabrachial nucleus. We argue that these right-lateralized cortical and brainstem regions mediate vestibular information processing for detection of vestibular anomalies, defensive motor responding in which the necessary motor responses are automatically prepared/simulated to protect one’s body, and sympathetic activity as an alarm response during whole body instability.

Free Research Field

生理人類学