Frontiers in Human Neuroscience最新文献

{"title":"Long-term robot-assisted gait training in patients with cerebral palsy: meaningful changes in gait parameters require time.","authors":"Paweł Chmara, Sabina Brazevič, Marek Jóźwiak, Faustyna Manikowska","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1924639","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1924639","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) is increasingly used in children with cerebral palsy (CP), but evidence regarding the timing and persistence of meaningful changes in gait remains limited. This study aimed to describe long-term changes in spatiotemporal gait parameters, gait kinematics, and walking endurance in ambulatory patients with CP undergoing systematic, repetitive RAGT, and to determine whether the timing of clinically meaningful change differs between ambulatory levels.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A study group consisting of 211 patients with hypertonic CP (93 females, 118 males; mean age 10.33 ± 3.80 years) classified at Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels I-III underwent a structured 2-year RAGT program comprising four therapy sets and 40 sessions in total. Gait was assessed five times: at baseline (pre-intervention) and at 6-month intervals over 24 months. Outcomes included the Gait Deviation Index (GDI), spatiotemporal gait parameters obtained from three-dimensional gait analysis, and six-minute walk test (6MWT) distance. The follow-u<i>p</i> values were compared with the baseline. Clinical meaningfulness was evaluated using the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) thresholds.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In the entire group, step length and stride length increased significantly from T2 onward, walking speed from T3 onward, and 6MWT distance at each follow-up assessment. At T5, individual improvement exceeding the relevant MCID thresholds was observed in 61.61% of participants for step length, 62.09% for stride length, 52.13% for walking speed, and 51.66% for 6MWT distance. Cadence increased significantly only at T5, whereas GDI increased throughout follow-up; however, the corresponding MCID thresholds were exceeded by 32.23 and 46.92% of participants, respectively. GMFCS III showed the earliest and largest gains, while changes in GMFCS II generally emerged later. Effect sizes increased over time and reached their highest values at T5. Repeated-measures ANOVA confirmed significant time effects for most outcomes. Significant time-by-GMFCS interactions for cadence, step length, and 6MWT distance indicated that selected longitudinal trajectories differed across functional levels, although the interaction effect sizes were small.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Systematic, repetitive gait training based on RAGT in patients with CP was associated with long-term positive changes in spatiotemporal gait parameters and walking endurance. In contrast, clinically meaningful changes in gait kinematics, as quantified by the GDI, were limited across all GMFCS levels. The effects of systematic and repeated RAGT developed progressively over time, with selected outcomes following different trajectories according to the participants' functional level.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"20 ","pages":"1924639"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13646091/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149136034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optimal sensor set for MEG-based spontaneous and intended speech decoding toward practical communication.","authors":"Pedro Andres Alba Diaz, Jinuk Kwon, Karinne Berstis, Matthew Weed, Paul Ferrari, Jun Wang","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1925703","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1925703","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Neural speech decoding has demonstrated great potential as an alternative to current brain-computer interface (BCI) spellers, enabling a faster, more natural way of communication for patients who have lost voluntary abilities, including speech. Most neural speech decoding studies have focused on decoding cued speech, in which participants are presented with visual or auditory signals before producing imagined or overt speech. Only a few recent studies have investigated the decoding of spontaneous and intended speech without external cues using neural activity acquired from a full-scalp clinical magnetoencephalography (MEG) system. With recent advances in MEG technology, including optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) and nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center (NV-diamond) magnetometers, MEG is emerging as a next-generation wearable system for practical speech BCIs. However, it remains unclear how many sensors are needed, where to place them, and what sampling frequency is optimal for wearable MEG devices that require cost-effective, computationally efficient operation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this study, we addressed these gaps by using a forward selection algorithm to find an optimal subset of sensors for spontaneous intended and overt speech decoding and by evaluating decoding performance across different frequency bands. Support vector machine and random forest were used as the classifiers in these experiments.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Our results indicate that only a small number of sensors (7-8 on average, with a maximum of fewer than 24) are sufficient to achieve decoding performance comparable to that obtained using the whole scalp (more than 200) sensors. In addition, we observed that the Lower High-Gamma (62-125 Hz) band yielded the best performance in some settings, although not statistically significantly higher than other bands in all settings.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These findings suggest that future wearable MEG devices may not need the whole-scalp sensor set and should support a sampling rate of at least 250 Hz, while 500 Hz is also encouraged, if possible. In summary, these findings provide practical insights for MEG-based BCIs for communication.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"20 ","pages":"1925703"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13642280/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149127297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial: Postural control priorities and effective motor learning: volume II.","authors":"Tadayoshi Asaka, Naoya Hasegawa, Yoshiro Okubo","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1974219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2026.1974219","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"20 ","pages":"1974219"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13642572/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149135866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Euphemisms modulate the neural processing of norm violations.","authors":"Yulia Gorodnicheva, Eliana Monahhova, Amir Bekim, Qiang Shen, Vasily Klucharev","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1917736","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1917736","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Euphemisms are commonly used in media to soften or obscure the severity of unethical or controversial actions. The present study explored the neural correlates underlying the processing of euphemized vignettes portraying norm violations. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) and collected behavioral severity ratings while participants (<i>n</i> = 38) read vignettes describing the same norm-violating events framed with euphemized, non-euphemized or control critical words. Behaviorally, participants rated norm violations as significantly less severe when described with euphemisms. At the neurophysiological level, non-euphemized critical words evoked significantly larger P600 amplitudes than euphemized words, whereas no reliable modulation was observed on the N400 component. Previous ERP studies have linked the N400 to the detection of semantic and normative incongruities, whereas the P600 has been associated with later integrative processes and evaluative reappraisal during language comprehension. These results suggest that euphemisms primarily modulate late-stage evaluative reappraisal and integration of norm violations, rather than early lexico-semantic detection.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"20 ","pages":"1917736"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13642805/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149135986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dissociating stimulus and task effects on neural oscillations during n-back tasks.","authors":"Jaap Munneke, Elnaz Vafaei, Jahla B Osborne, Mahsa Shalchy, Susanne M Jaeggi, Aaron Seitz","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1883989","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1883989","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>N-back tasks are widely used to assess working memory functioning, yet different methodological approaches between tasks and across laboratories can yield distinct neural signatures. While working memory-related event-related potentials (ERPs) have been extensively studied, it remains unclear how task parameters influence the neural oscillatory activity underlying working memory functioning.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted time-frequency analyses on EEG data from 36 participants performing nine different variants of the n-back task that systematically varied in stimulus type (words, pictures, colors) and task structure (timing, response, and feedback parameters). We examined power modulations in the theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz), and beta (12-30 Hz) frequency bands to determine which task parameters drive changes in specific neural oscillations.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results revealed a functional double dissociation: frontal theta event-related synchronization was selectively sensitive to stimulus type, with 'pictures' eliciting greater theta power than words and colors in the task variant with the shortest total trial duration and a requirement to respond to all stimuli, but not in other task variants. In contrast, centro-parietal alpha event-related desynchronization was driven predominantly by task structure rather than stimulus content, showing reduced alpha suppression in the task variant characterized by the longest inter-trial interval and immediate accuracy feedback. Beta oscillations showed no systematic modulation at the Region of Interest level. Cluster-based permutation analyses further confirmed the early temporal specificity of both theta and alpha effects.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>We conclude that theta oscillations reflect stimulus-driven encoding demands, while alpha desynchronization tracks the structural and temporal demands of the task context (modulating the need for active neural inhibition of task-irrelevant information). These findings have direct implications for standardizing n-back protocols: stimulus type and task structure exert their influence on fundamentally different oscillatory systems and must be carefully controlled depending on which neural biomarker is targeted.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"20 ","pages":"1883989"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13642722/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149127320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Associations between pre-to-post TMS-evoked potential changes and motor sequence learning across retention intervals.","authors":"Fransina Christina King, Narayanankutty Naduvilidam, Milos R Ljubisavljevic, Fatima Yousif Ismail","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1925178","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1925178","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Motor sequence learning involves practice-related changes in behavior and neural activity, yet the neurophysiological markers associated with later retention remain unclear. TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs) provide a measure of cortical responses to stimulation and may help characterize physiological-behavioral relationships across different learning timescales. Whether these associations differ across retention intervals remains unclear. We examined whether baseline TMS-EEG measures or task-related changes in right primary motor cortex (M1) TEPs are associated with initial acquisition and subsequent performance change across short and long-term retention intervals during a non-dominant hand motor sequence task. Seventeen healthy right-handed adults performed a five-element finger-tapping sequence with the left hand across three sessions: Day 1 (acquisition), Day 2 (short-term retention), and Day 7 (long-term retention). Single-pulse TMS-EEG was acquired before and after task performance over right M1 at each session. Four TEP components (N45, N100, P180, and N280) were analyzed. Day 1 training was associated with increases in PR and ACC, together with improved accuracy-adjusted efficiency, and slope dynamics remained broadly stable across later test sessions. Acute pre-to-post right-M1 TEP changes were not associated with rapid within-session acquisition. Pre-to-post P180 TEP change showed a nominal association with subsequent efficiency change, with a stronger nominal pattern over the 24-h interval than over the 5-day interval. However, neither the P180 dTEP effect nor the Interval × dTEP interaction survived FDR correction, and both were sensitive to participant-level influence and bootstrap resampling. These findings suggest that right-M1 TEP measures showed different relationships with rapid within-session acquisition and between-session performance change. Late P180 changes may be related to performance change across different retention intervals, but whether they reflect time-dependent consolidation processes remains to be established.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"20 ","pages":"1925178"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13642314/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149127237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neuromodulation for post-stroke aphasia rehabilitation: established cortical stimulation and emerging network-based targets.","authors":"Mariagiovanna De Luca, Giovanni Federico, Daniela Rigatti, Onofrio Gigliotta, Paola Marangolo","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1961051","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1961051","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Post-stroke aphasia is a disabling disorder of language and communication for which speech-language therapy remains the standard of care. Because behavioural treatment yields variable gains and many people retain chronic communication limitations, non-invasive neuromodulation has been investigated to increase the responsiveness of residual language networks to therapy. This narrative review critically integrates evidence available through July 2026 for repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), theta-burst stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and emerging approaches targeting the cerebellum, spinal sensorimotor pathways, and cellular metabolism. Recent meta-analyses support small-to-moderate average benefits of adjunctive cortical stimulation, especially for naming, but these estimates coexist with marked heterogeneity, small trials and incomplete evidence for generalisation, durability, functional communication, and quality of life. Recent randomised studies illustrate the value of pairing stimulation with a defined learning task and of using lesion, tract, functional-connectivity, or hemodynamic information to select targets and predict response. Cerebellar tDCS, transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation, transcranial alternating current stimulation, and transcranial photobiomodulation are conceptually attractive but remain investigational because the clinical evidence is limited, inconsistent, or based on uncontrolled and proof-of-concept studies. Across modalities, serious adverse events are uncommon when contemporary screening and dosing guidance are followed, although stroke-specific comorbidity and seizure risk require trained supervision. Neuromodulation should therefore be viewed as a potentially useful, state-dependent amplifier of speech-language therapy rather than a replacement for it. Progress towards routine care will require adequately powered multisite trials, preregistered patient-level stratification, treatment-fidelity reporting, ecologically valid outcomes, longer follow-up, and direct comparisons of personalised with fixed protocols.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"20 ","pages":"1961051"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13643595/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149136028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of age in a cognitive-motor dual task: parametric manipulations of cognitive load and motor difficulty.","authors":"C M Denaro, J A Monroy, A A Hartley, J Asta, C L Reed","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1927089","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1927089","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Everyday mobility requires the continuous allocation of limited executive resources between cognitive and motor control. Prioritization theory predicts that biomechanical stability is prioritized as load increases to reduce fall risk. Although dual-task walking has been widely studied, most investigations examine the kinematic effects of a single cognitive task on a single walking condition, providing limited insight into how cognitive-motor interactions evolve as task demands progressively increase. Here we examined how increasing cognitive load and motor difficulty jointly influence gait adaptation in healthy younger and older adults.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Younger (<i>n</i> = 29) and older adults (<i>n</i> = 30) performed auditory 0-, 1-, and 2-back tasks while walking on a treadmill at three inclines (level, intermediate, highest). Working memory performance and gait kinematics were analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Increased cognitive load produced declines in <i>d</i>' and increases in RTs. Both age groups showed similar increases in RT with increased load, but older adults exhibited greater decreases in d' with increased load. Age-related gait differences were observed, especially with increases in motor difficulty, but they were parameter-specific, concentrated in stride length, stride frequency and toe clearance rather than reflecting a uniform age-related decline across all gait measures. Compared with younger adults, older adults' gait was characterized by lower toe clearances, higher stride frequencies, shorter relative stride lengths, and greater time in double support. As motor difficulty increased, younger adults progressively adapted their gait across all incline levels, whereas older adults made these adaptations only between the lowest and higher inclines. RT and <i>d</i>'-both presumed to reflect executive function-were related to gait in qualitatively different ways. RT was generally associated with gait parameters, while <i>d</i>' was highly specific to incline, and in one case, task difficulty.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These findings support capacity-sharing and posture-first accounts of cognitive-motor interaction. In addition to age-related baseline differences, executive function explains additional variance in adaptive gait responses under increasing task demands.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"20 ","pages":"1927089"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13642604/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149135899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Progress of nursing management for delirium in critically ill geriatric patients: a narrative review.","authors":"Qi Mei, Xinyi Chen","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1849325","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1849325","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Delirium is the most common and modifiable acute cognitive complication in elderly critically ill patients and is associated with prolonged hospital stays, increased mortality, persistent long-term cognitive decline, and a significant healthcare burden. A history of mild cognitive impairment or dementia further increases delirium risk, exacerbates symptom severity, and worsens clinical outcomes. Nonpharmacological nursing interventions form the cornerstone of delirium prevention and management. However, nurse-centered integrated comprehensive care pathways remain insufficiently integrated. This narrative review systematically synthesizes peer-reviewed evidence retrieved from the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases up to July 2025, focusing on the nursing management of delirium in elderly critically ill patients. The content encompasses modifiable risk factors, validated bedside assessment scales (including CAM-ICU, ICDSC, 4AT, and home-based tools such as FAM-CAM and IQCODE), and evidence-based multicomponent nonpharmacological intervention strategies. The core intervention domains include the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP), the eCASH care model, medication safety monitoring, early mobilization, sleep optimization, reduction in physical restraints, orientation training, behavioral symptom management, and postdischarge home safety guidance. Additionally, this review evaluates the current status, clinical value, and limitations of emerging digital technologies applied to delirium care, including wearable monitoring devices, virtual reality-assisted cognitive rehabilitation, and artificial intelligence-augmented clinical decision support systems. This review aims to provide a theoretical foundation and practical reference for frontline nurses implementing evidence-based delirium management in elderly critically ill patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"20 ","pages":"1849325"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13639604/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149107560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Decoding self-motion: insights into visual-vestibular causal inference.","authors":"Huizhe Sun, Aihua Chen, Fu Zeng","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1879282","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2026.1879282","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Self-motion perception relies on the integration of visual optic flow and vestibular signals, yet these cues are often noisy, unreliable, or mutually inconsistent. A central challenge is therefore not only how to integrate them, but also whether they should be integrated at all. Bayesian causal inference provides a framework for this problem by proposing that the brain infers whether visual and vestibular cues arise from a common cause and adjusts their integration accordingly. Behavioral findings, including disparity-dependent perceptual biases, reliability-dependent cue reweighting, and experience-dependent recalibration, are compatible with this framework, but are not diagnostic of causal inference in isolation and may also arise from alternative integration or decision mechanisms. At the neural level, studies in humans and nonhuman primates have identified a distributed self-motion network involving MSTd, VIP, VPS/PIVC, and frontal and parietal association areas. However, current evidence mainly concerns multisensory convergence, cue weighting, and conflict sensitivity rather than a direct neural representation of causal structure. Here, we review visual-vestibular causal inference from three linked perspectives: the computational framework and its domain-specific assumptions, the strength and limitations of the behavioral model evidence, and the candidate neural substrates and circuit mechanisms. We conclude by highlighting major open questions and future directions for understanding causal inference during naturalistic self-motion.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"20 ","pages":"1879282"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13639610/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149107622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}