M.I.T./Canadian vestibular experiments on the Spacelab-1 mission. VI - Vestibular reactions to lateral acceleration following ten days of weightlessness

The effects of weightlessness on human orientation and balance are investigated. The responses of the Spacelab-1 crew to linear acceleration are measured using a perception of linear motion test, a closed-loop otolith assessment test (CLOAT), a dynamic ocular torsion test, and a lateral eye deviations test. The perception of linear motion tests measures a subject's ability to detect the presence and direction of small changes in linear acceleration; CLOAT assesses a person's ability to use linear acceleration cues to perform a manual control task; and the dynamic ocular torsion test examines the gravitoinertial contribution to dynamic ocular counterrolling. The threshold accelerations, velocity constants, regression coefficients, scalar performance measures, and torsion measurements for the subjects are analyzed and described. It is noted that the data support the tilt-translation reinterpretation hypothesis of Young et al. (1984, 1986).