Effects of galvanic vestibular stimulation on response interference following visual motion primes

One impressive demonstration of a counter-regulation of unfounded motor responses comes from response priming with moving dot stimuli: Participants respond faster to the direction of static arrow targets if they are preceded by dots moving in the opposite compared to the same direction (i.e., negative compatibility effect, NCE)....

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No actionable change — this is early basic-science research on vestibular-motor interactions with no direct clinical protocol implications at this stage.

Understanding how vestibular input modulates visual-motor conflict processing could inform future neurorehabilitation strategies for patients with balance or vestibular disorders.

1. 01Galvanic vestibular stimulation (mild electrical current to the balance nerve) was applied during a visual motion task.
2. 02The study examined response interference — when competing signals slow or disrupt a motor response.
3. 03Results suggest vestibular input influences how the brain resolves conflicting visual motion cues.
4. 04Findings are at the basic neuroscience level and not yet applicable to clinical vestibular practice.
5. 05Published in Behavioural Brain Research (doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2026.116471).

PMID

42753927

DOI

10.1016/j.bbr.2026.116471.

Journal

Behavioural Brain Research

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

4

Population

Not specified — likely healthy adult participants undergoing galvanic vestibular stimulation with visual motion priming tasks

Intervention

Galvanic vestibular stimulation during visual motion priming tasks

Comparator

Sham or no-stimulation control (inferred)