week 9 Flashcards
microgravity
condition wherein the force of gravity is very small
- forces acting on body is 0
- challenging to study motor control
most well known microgravity environment
is on the international space station
- task become more complex due to variety of factors
what tasks become more difficult in mircogravity
- changes in physioloigical systems
- changes in sensory consequences about learned action
parabolic flights
offer an environment for which to study the effects of mircogravity
- at the peak of the trajectory the gravitational force is close to 0
Einstein’s equivalence principle
- no measuring devices (and by extension no sensors in the body) can distinguish between inertial and gravitational forces
astronauts and cosmonauts must take time to set up experiments once in orbit
adaptive to microgravity is occurring during this time
prolonged physiological changes may affect the results
there is not hydrostatic pressure
- redistribution of bodily fluids
experiments in parabolic flights
can achieve microgravity within seconds
- last (20-30s)
- need more flights to get adequate data collection time
- can have a variety of participants
- aircraft can rotate and conditions may nit be as stable
what did early work in microgravity focus on?
vestibular-ocular reflexes (VOR)
vestibular-ocular reflexes (VOR)- in microgravity
- when head rotation is sensed the eye begin to rotate in the opposite direction
why does eye begin to rotate in the opposite direction
eye velocity is matched to the head velocity (but in oppoistie direction)
vestibular-ocular reflexes (VOR)- when the limit of eye motion is reached
- the eyes make rapid adjustment to bring gase to the new location
nystagmus
are eye movements that occur to adjust to prolonged fixation
- alternate fast and slow phases
- if heads keeps moving
how does nystagmus stop?
if head keeps moving (at near constant velocities)
when do nystagmus continue
is head rotation stop abruptly
- endolymph continues to move
what do the otolith (utricle and saccule) organs sense
linear accelerations
- are unloaded in mircogravity
what do the semicircular canals sense?
head rotations
- these are unaffected by microgravity
Coriolis cross-coupled stimulation
an unusual combination of linear and angular accelerations
- elicited by tilting the head while in a rotating chair
- severe disorientation and nasuae on earth
skylab M-131 investigating coriolis cross-coupled stimulation
no disorientation or nausea
- could not determine whether this was an adaption
- eye movements were not measured
velocity decay
- after a quick head movement, our vestibular ocular reflex works to move our eyes to stabilize our vision
what is velocity decay the measure of
the reduction in eye-movement velocity in the slow phase after the initial response
VOR during parabolic flight (DiZio and Lackner 1991)
velocity decay occured throughout
- indicated that velocity storage phenomenon is affect by microgravity
decay is steeper in ____ compared to _____
- microgravity
- normo-gravity
what can alos be affected by mircogravity
proprioception