Patients with persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) perceive unsteadiness associated with abnormal ego- or visual motion perception. We tested for altered functional brain activation of PPPD patients and healthy subjects (HC) while applying various visual motion stimuli (VS).
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Findings are preliminary neuroimaging data; no change to clinical management of PPPD is warranted at this time.
Understanding the brain mechanisms behind PPPD could eventually guide targeted treatments, such as vestibular rehabilitation or neuromodulation, for this difficult-to-treat chronic dizziness condition.
- 01fMRI used to map brain activation in PPPD patients during visual motion stimulation.
- 02Abnormal egomotion (self-motion) perception is a hallmark of PPPD studied here.
- 03Specific brain regions show atypical responses compared to controls.
- 04Published in NeuroImage: Clinical (2026), a peer-reviewed neuroimaging journal.
- 05Results are mechanistic and do not yet translate to direct clinical protocols.
PPPD patients show abnormal brain activation patterns in response to visual motion stimuli that elicit egomotion perception.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42815133
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.nicl.2026.104068.
- Journal
- NeuroImage: Clinical
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Patients with persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD)
- Intervention
- Visual motion stimuli eliciting abnormal egomotion perception during fMRI
Primary outcomes
Brain activation patterns in response to visual motion stimuli; Regions associated with abnormal egomotion perception in PPPD