Summary
A helmet-mounted visual display system was used to study visually induced sensations of self-motion (vection) about the roll, pitch and yaw axes under normal gravity condition (1g) and during the microgravity and hypergravity phases of parabolic flights aboard the NASA KC-135 aircraft. Under each gravity condition, the following parameters were investigated: (1) the subject's perceived body vertical with eyes closed and with eyes open gazing at a stationary random dot display; (2) the magnitude of sensations of body tilt with respect to the subjective vertical, while the subject viewed displays rotating about the roll, pitch and yaw axes; (3) the magnitude of vection; (4) latency of vection. All eleven subjects perceived a definite “up and down” orientation throughout the course of the flight. During the microgravity phase, the average magnitudes of perceived body tilt and self-motion increased significantly, and there was no significant difference in vection latency. These results show that there is a rapid onset of increased dependence on visual inputs for perception of self-orientation and self-motion in weightlessness, and a decreased dependence on otolithic and somatosensory graviceptive information. Anti-motion sickness drugs appear not to affect the parameters measured.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
von Baumgarten R, Benson A, Berthoz A, Bles W, Brandt Th, Brenske A, Clarke A, Dichgans J, Eggertsberger R, Jürgens K, Kass J, Krafczyk S, Probst Th, Scherer H, Thumler R, Vieville Th, Vogel H, Wetzig J (1987) European experiments on the vestibular system during the Spacelab D-1 mission. In: Sahm PR, Jansen R, Keller MH (eds) Proceeding of the Norderney symposium on scientific results of the German spacelab mission D1. Norderney, 1986 pp 477–490
Bracchi F, Gualtierotti T, Morabito A, Rocca E (1975) Multiday recordings from the primary neurons of the statoreceptors of the labyrinth of the bull frog: the effect of an extended period of “weightlessness” on the rate of firing at rest and in response to stimulation by brief periods of centrifugation (OFA-A orbiting experiment). Acta Otolaryngol Suppl 334:1–27
Daunton N, Thomsen D (1979) Visual modulation of otolith-dependent units in cat vestibular nuclei. Exp Brain Res 37:173–6
Dichgans J, Brandt Th (1979) Visual-vestibular interaction and motion perception. In: Dichgans J, Bizzi E (eds) Cerebral control of eye movement and motion perception. S. Karger Basel New York.
Drachman DD (1977) Memory and cognitive function in man: does the cholinergic system have a specific role? Neurology 27:783–790
Gray S, Cheung B, Money K, Landolt J, Cragg R (1983) Effectiveness of combinations of antimotion sickness drugs. Aerospace Med Assoc Annual Scientific Meeting, Houston, Texas
Graybiel A, Kellogg R (1967) Inversion illusion in parabolic flight: its probable dependence on otolith function. Aerospace Med 38:1099–102
Held R, Dichgans J, Bauer J (1975) Characteristics of moving visual scenes influencing spatial orientation. Vision Res 15:357–65
Howard IP, Cheung BSK, Landolt J (1988) Influence of vection axis and body posture on visually induced self-rotation and tilt. In: AGARD conference proceeding CP-433: motion cues in flight simulation and simulator induced sickness. 15-1 to 15-8
Keller EI, Precht W (1970) Visual-vestibular responses in vestibular nuclear neurons in the intact and cerebellomized, alert cat. Neuroscience 4:1599–1613
Lackner JR, Graybiel A (1983) Perceived orientation in free-fall depends on visual, postural, and architectural factors. Aviat Space Environm Med 54:47–51
Mittelstaedt H (1985) Subjective vertical in weightlessness. In: Igarashi M, Black O, (eds) Vestibular and visual control on posture and locomotor equilibrium. 7th Int. Symp. Int. Soc. Posturography, Houston, Texas, pp 139–150
Mittelstaedt H (1987) Inflight and postflight results on the causation of inversion illusions and space sickness. In: Sahm PR, Jansen R, Keller MH (eds) Proceedings of the Norderney symposium on the scientific results of the German spacelab mission D1. Norderney, Germany, pp 525–536
Parker DE, Reschke MF, Arrot AP, Homick JL, Lichtenberg BK (1985) Otolith tilt translation reinterpretation following prolonged weightlessness: implications for preflight training. Aviat Space Environm Med 56:601–606
Ross HE, Schwartz E (1984) Can medication interfere with space research? An example from a mass-discrimination experiment on Spacelab 1. In: Proceedings of the 2nd European symposium on life science research in space, Porz Wahn, Germany. ESA SP-212:261–264
Schmedtje JF, Oman CM, Letz R, Baker EL (1988) Effects of scopolamine and dextroamphetamine on human performance. Aviat Space Environm Med 59:407–10
Waespe W, Henn V (1977) Neuronal activity in the vestibular nuclei in the alert monkey during vestibular and optokinetic stimulation. Exp Brain Res 27:523–538
Wesnes K, Warburton DM (1983) Effects of scopolamine on stimulus sensitivity and response bias in a visual vigilance task. Neuropsychobiology 9:154–157
Wood CD, Manno JE, Manno BR, Redetzki HM, Wood MJ, Minis ME (1985) Evaluation of antimotion sickness drug side effects on performance. Aviat Space Environm Med 56:310–6
Young L, Oman C, Dichgans J (1975) Influence of head orientation on visually induced pitch and roll sensation. Aviat Space Environm Med 46:264–268
Young L, Shelhamer M, Modestino S (1986) M. I. T. /Canadian vestibular experiments on the Spacelab-1 mission. 2. Visual vestibular tilt interaction in weightlessness. Exp Brain Res 64:299–307
Young L, Oman C, Watt D, Money K, Lichtenberg B, Kenyon R, Arrot A (1986) M. I. T. /Canadian vestibular experiments on the Spacelab-1 mission. 1. Sensory adaptation to weightlessness and readaptation to one-g: an overview. Exp Brain Res 64:291–298
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cheung, B.S.K., Howard, I.P. & Money, K.E. Visually-induced tilt during parabolic flights. Exp Brain Res 81, 391–397 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00228131
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00228131