Multisensory, Cognitive, and Motor Influences on Human Spatial Orientation in Weightlessness

Abstract

Exposure to weightlessness affects the control and appreciation of body position and orientation. In free fall the perception of one's own orientation and that of the surroundings is dependent on the presence or absence of contact cues, whether part of the body is visible in relation to the architecturally defined verticals of the space craft, cognitive factors, and exposure history. Sensations of falling are not elicited in free fall when the eyes are closed or the visual field is stabilized. This indicates that visual and cognitive factors as well as vestibular ones must be implicated in the genesis of such sensations under normal circumstances. Position sense of the limbs is also degraded in free fall. This may be due to alterations in skeletal muscle spindle gain owing to a decreased otolith-spinal activation. We provide evidence that during initial exposure to weightlessness there is a decrease in muscle stiffness which affects movement accuracy. The altered loading of the skeletal muscles due to the head and body being weightless are shown to be significant etiological factors in space motion sickness.