This review mainly focuses on the development of the vestibular system in humans and other mammals, but reference is made to anurans and other species where applicable. In the first section, the steps involved in the development of undifferentiated cells into mature vestibular receptors are analysed. Available data indicate that in humans, maturation of the vestibular receptor and its afferent ...

The vestibular system provides the brain with sensory signals about three-dimensional head rotations and translations. These signals are important for postural and oculomotor control, as well as for spatial and bodily perception and cognition, and they are subtended by pathways running from the vestibular nuclei to the thalamus, cerebellum and the "vestibular cortex." The present review summari...

In addition to the deficits in the vestibulo-ocular and vestibulo-spinal reflexes that occur following vestibular dysfunction, there is substantial evidence that vestibular loss also causes cognitive disorders, some of which may be due to the reflexive deficits and some of which are related to the role that ascending vestibular pathways to the limbic system and neocortex play in spatial orienta...