Central vestibular connections

The vestibular primary afferents (around 20 000 on each side) are pseudobipolar cells with their cell bodies in the vestibular ganglion. Their axons run in the vestibulocochlear (8th cranial) nerve to come in the vestibular nuclei that lie laterally in the pons and medulla. There are four vestibular nuclei.

The pathway for conscious balance perception are axons of the inferior vestibular nucleus that cross to the contralateral side, ascend close to the medial lemniscus to terminate the cortex that lies at the temporo-parietal boundary and posterior insula however the other projections go to the superior temporal cortex adjacent to the auditory region and to the frontal cortex.