The impact of vestibular disorders on cognitive function

Libion, Sylvie [UCL] Lacroix, Emilie [UCL] Deggouj, Naima [UCL] Edwards, Martin [UCL]

The impact of vestibular disorders on cognitive function remains poorly understood. Some suggest that vestibular disorders could result in reduced visuospatial, attentional or memory abilities. Also, it has been suggested that vestibular reflexes may be linked to cognitive development; for example the vestibular-ocular reflex linked to visuospatial cognition. Our study therefore aims to examine the impact of these reflex disorders on visual-perceptual functions in child case studies. We propose that a deficit in visual-perceptual cognition will occur in children with vestibular deficits, more specifically to the vestibular-ocular reflex. A second hypothesis is that in case of compensated vestibular disorders, any visual-perceptual impacts would be reduced. Our clinical population consists of 8 children aged 6 to 16 years, all with vestibular pathology, and having some deafness / hard-of-hearing difficulties. Children were recruited in the audiophonology center of the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc. The children were matched to hearing children by their chronological age. Cognitive comparison will be presented on tests of the Zazzo cancelation task, the Rey figure (with computer assisted scoring), figure ground and visual closure (DTVP-3), visuospatial memory (VSAD), and block and matrix design (WISC-IV). We will present preliminary findings showing that children with the vestibular disorders underperform on the different tasks when compared to the norm participants, with the exception of those patients whose disorder was compensated. The results will be discussed in terms of the impact of vestibular disorders on cognitive function.