Title
The perception of verticality in lunar and Martian gravity conditions
Author
de Winkel, K.N.
Clément, G.
Groen, E.L.
Werkhoven, P.J.
Publication year
2012
Abstract
Although the mechanisms of neural adaptation to weightlessness and re-adaptation to Earth-gravity have received a lot of attention since the first human space flight, there is as yet little knowledge about how spatial orientation is affected by partial gravity, such as lunar gravity of 0.16. g or Martian gravity of 0.38. g. Up to now twelve astronauts have spent a cumulated time of approximately 80. h on the lunar surface, but no psychophysical experiments were conducted to investigate their perception of verticality. We investigated how the subjective vertical (SV) was affected by reduced gravity levels during the first European Parabolic Flight Campaign of Partial Gravity. In normal and hypergravity, subjects accurately aligned their SV with the gravitational vertical. However, when gravity was below a certain threshold, subjects aligned their SV with their body longitudinal axis. The value of the threshold varied considerably between subjects, ranging from 0.03 to 0.57. g. Despite the small number of subjects, there was a significant positive correlation of the threshold with subject age, which calls for further investigation. © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
Subject
Human
PCS - Perceptual and Cognitive Systems
BSS - Behavioural and Societal Sciences
Health
Defence, Safety and Security
Gravity
Microgravity
Spatial orientation
Subjective vertical
Weightlessness
adult
age distribution
article
body posture
clinical article
gravity
human
male
moon
perception
priority journal
spatial orientation
task performance
visual stimulation
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6fec8841-aac3-4c92-8f2c-46be755979d1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2012.09.026
TNO identifier
465828
ISSN
0304-3940
Source
Neuroscience Letters, 529 (1), 7-11
Document type
article