Minimizing the influence of magnetic vestibular stimulation inside MRI scanners by adjusting head position

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Abstract
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers detailed diagnostic insights but also unintentionally induces vestibular side effects by its static magnetic field. Magnetic vestibular stimulation (MVS) may cause dizziness and confound behavioral and physiological measures in fMRI by introducing an unavoidable mixture of neural activation in vestibular projection areas, driven both by the signal of interest and by vestibular system activation. This study investigated how different head orientations within a 3T MRI scanner influence the MVS-induced vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) in complete darkness, with the goal of identifying a head position that minimizes or eliminates MVS effects. Results revealed a linear relationship between head pitch and the horizontal VOR (Experiment 1), as well as between head roll and the vertical VOR (Experiment 2). Across participants, the horizontal VOR was eliminated at a median forward head pitch of 24.4°, while the vertical VOR was nullified at an average roll angle of 15.9° towards the right shoulder. A head position combining this forward pitch with this rightward roll effectively minimized both horizontal and vertical VOR components across subjects (Experiment 3). No conclusions can be drawn regarding torsional eye movements, as those were not recorded. The findings provide a practical solution to reduce the impact of MVS effects in MRI with important implications for improving data quality in neuroscientific fMRI studies and patient comfort during clinical imaging.

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