Neuro 2026: Vestibular System

What does the vestibular system do?

maintain balance, posture, and spatial orientation

Main components of the vestibular system

semicircular canals and the otolith organs

What do the semicircular canals consist of? And what do they do?

There are anterior, posterior, and lateral canals; they detect rotational movements

What do the otoliths organs consist of? And what do they do?

utricle and saccule; they detect linear movements + gravitational forces

Each semicircular canal has an enlarged base called the…

ampulla

Structure w/ sensory hair cells embedded in gelatinous mass known as the…

cupula

What does the utricle do?

detects linear acceleration in forward, backward, and side-to-side directions

What does the saccule do?

sensitive to up and down motion and gravitational forces

What are the 3 Euler angles?

yaw, pitch, and roll

What is yaw?

rotation around the vertical axis (left or right)

What is pitch?

rotation around the lateral or transverse axis (up and down)

What is roll?

rotation around the longitudinal axis (tilting your head side to side)

What is the law of inertia?

an object in motion remains in motion unless acted upon by an external force

Semicircular canals = …. rotation

head

Otolith organs = …. motion

entire body (head as well)

What could occur is the cupula gets stuck?

vertigo

What is the striola?

a curving central region that divides the sensory epithelium into 2 populations of hair cells w/ opposing orientation