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Sensorimotor aspects of high-speed artificial gravity: I. Sensory conflict in vestibular adaptationShort-radius centrifugation offers a promising and affordable countermeasure to the adverse effects of prolonged weightlessness. However, head movements made in a fast rotating environment elicit Coriolis effects, which seriously compromise sensory and motor processes. We found that participants can adapt to these Coriolis effects when exposed intermittently to high rotation rates and, at the same time, can maintain their perceptual-motor coordination in stationary environments. In this paper, we explore the role of inter-sensory conflict in this adaptation process. Different measures (vertical nystagmus, illusory body tilt, motion sickness) react differently to visual-vestibular conflict and adapt differently. In particular, proprioceptive-vestibular conflict sufficed to adapt subjective parameters and the time constant of nystagmus decay, while retinal slip was required for VOR gain adaptation. A simple correlation between the strength of intersensory conflict and the efficacy of adaptation fails to explain the data. Implications of these findings, which differ from existing data for low rotation rates, are discussed.
Document ID
20040087515
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Brown, Erika L.
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA, United States)
Hecht, Heiko
Young, Laurence R.
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2002
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of vestibular research : equilibrium & orientation
Volume: 12
Issue: 5-6
ISSN: 0957-4271
Subject Category
Aerospace Medicine
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Non-NASA Center
NASA Discipline Neuroscience
Randomized Controlled Trial
Clinical Trial

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