The hundredth anniversary of Robert Bárány’s Nobel Prize in Medicine offers
the opportunity to highlight the importance of his discoveries on the physiology
and pathophysiology of the vestibular organs. Bárány developed the method
of caloric vestibular stimulation that revolutionized the investigation of the
semicircular canals and that is still widely used today. Caloric vestibular
stimulation launched experimental vestibular research that was relevant to
comprehend the evolution of human locomotion, and Bárány’s tests continue
to be used in neuroscience to understand the influence of vestibular signals on
bodily perceptions, cognition and emotions. Only during the last 20 years has
caloric vestibular stimulation been merged with brain imaging to localize the
human vestibular cortex.