Vestibular loss causes hippocampal atrophy and impaired spatial memory in humans

The human hippocampal formation plays a crucial role in various aspects of memory processing. Most literature on the human hippocampus stresses its non-spatial memory functions, but older work in rodents and some other species emphasized the role of the hippocampus in spatial learning and memory as well. A few human studies also point to a direct relation between hippocampal size, navigation and spatial memory. Conversely, the importance of the vestibular system for navigation and spatial memory was until now convincingly demonstrated only in animals. Using magnetic resonance imaging volumetry, we found that patients (n = 10) with acquired chronic bilateral vestibular loss (BVL) develop a significant selective…