scholarly journals Human perceptual overestimation of whole body roll tilt in hypergravity

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (7) ◽  
pp. 2062-2077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torin K. Clark ◽  
Michael C. Newman ◽  
Charles M. Oman ◽  
Daniel M. Merfeld ◽  
Laurence R. Young

Hypergravity provides a unique environment to study human perception of orientation. We utilized a long-radius centrifuge to study perception of both static and dynamic whole body roll tilt in hypergravity, across a range of angles, frequencies, and net gravito-inertial levels (referred to as G levels). While studies of static tilt perception in hypergravity have been published, this is the first to measure dynamic tilt perception (i.e., with time-varying canal stimulation) in hypergravity using a continuous matching task. In complete darkness, subjects reported their orientation perception using a haptic task, whereby they attempted to align a hand-held bar with their perceived horizontal. Static roll tilt was overestimated in hypergravity, with more overestimation at larger angles and higher G levels, across the conditions tested (overestimated by ∼35% per additional G level, P < 0.001). As our primary contribution, we show that dynamic roll tilt was also consistently overestimated in hypergravity ( P < 0.001) at all angles and frequencies tested, again with more overestimation at higher G levels. The overestimation was similar to that for static tilts at low angular velocities but decreased at higher angular velocities ( P = 0.006), consistent with semicircular canal sensory integration. To match our findings, we propose a modification to a previous Observer-type canal-otolith interaction model. Specifically, our data were better modeled by including the hypothesis that the central nervous system treats otolith stimulation in the utricular plane differently than stimulation out of the utricular plane. This modified model was able to simulate quantitatively both the static and the dynamic roll tilt overestimation in hypergravity measured experimentally.

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 3110-3121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel C. Galvan-Garza ◽  
Torin K. Clark ◽  
David Sherwood ◽  
Ana Diaz-Artiles ◽  
Marissa Rosenberg ◽  
...  

Overestimation of roll tilt in hypergravity (“G-excess” illusion) has been demonstrated, but corresponding sustained hypogravic conditions are impossible to create in ground laboratories. In this article we describe the first systematic experimental evidence that in a hypogravity analog, humans underestimate roll tilt. We studied perception of self-roll tilt in nine subjects, who were supine while spun on a centrifuge to create a hypogravity analog. By varying the centrifuge rotation rate, we modulated the centripetal acceleration (GC) at the subject’s head location (0.5 or 1 GC) along the body axis. We measured orientation perception using a subjective visual vertical task in which subjects aligned an illuminated bar with their perceived centripetal acceleration direction during tilts (±11.5–28.5°). As hypothesized, based on the reduced utricular otolith shearing, subjects initially underestimated roll tilts in the 0.5 GC condition compared with the 1 GC condition (mean perceptual gain change = −0.27, P = 0.01). When visual feedback was given after each trial in 0.5 GC, subjects’ perceptual gain increased in approximately exponential fashion over time (time constant = 16 tilts or 13 min), and after 45 min, the perceptual gain was not significantly different from the 1 GC baseline (mean gain difference between 1 GC initial and 0.5 GC final = 0.16, P = 0.3). Thus humans modified their interpretation of sensory cues to more correctly report orientation during this hypogravity analog. Quantifying the acute orientation perceptual learning in such an altered gravity environment may have implications for human space exploration on the moon or Mars. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Humans systematically overestimate roll tilt in hypergravity. However, human perception of orientation in hypogravity has not been quantified across a range of tilt angles. Using a centrifuge to create a hypogravity centripetal acceleration environment, we found initial underestimation of roll tilt. Providing static visual feedback, perceptual learning reduced underestimation during the hypogravity analog. These altered gravity orientation perceptual errors and adaptation may have implications for astronauts.


2017 ◽  
Vol 137 (10) ◽  
pp. 1057-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsushi Tamura ◽  
Yoshiro Wada ◽  
Takuo Inui ◽  
Akihiro Shiotani

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (S 4) ◽  
Author(s):  
V.C Zingler ◽  
D Krivoshey ◽  
E Schneider ◽  
S Glasauer ◽  
T Brandt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

1968 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. Webb ◽  
D. G. D. Wight ◽  
G. Wiernik ◽  
G. S. Platt ◽  
C. E. G. Smith

Summary1. Irradiation in a whole body dose of 200 rads or more increased the sensitivity of mice to intraperitoneal infection with Langat virus so that the LD 50 was increased to about the intracerebral LD 50.2. In mice given 500 rads before infection: (a) viraemia was prolonged by about 5 days; (b) the IgM response was depressed; (c) the IgG response was delayed by about 3 days and depressed in titre; (d) virus concentration in the brain rose continuously until death on about the tenth day while in the controls it reached a peak on the fifth day then subsided; (e) histological changes in the CNS were delayed and minimal even at death; (f) irradiated mice died with little evidence of paralysis while the controls died with severe paralysis.3. In irradiated mice, protection was observed when antibody was administered on the third day following infection. Antibody given on the 3 days after infection to control mice aggravated the disease.4. The results in this and the preceding paper are discussed in relation to the pathogenesis of encephalitis. It is concluded that neuronal damage is caused both by virus multiplication in neurones and by damage superimposed by inflammatory changes with associated oedema and hypoxia. The inflammatory changes appear to be due to an allergic reaction to virus-antibody complexes formed in the circulation and in the central nervous system.We are grateful to Miss S. J. Illavia, B.Sc., and Miss G. E. Fairbairn for their skilled technical assistance; to the Department of Radiotherapy at St Thomas's Hospital for providing time and staff to help with the irradiation experiments; and to Mr S. Peto of the Microbiological Research Establishment for statistical advice.This work was made possible by a generous grant from the Wellcome Trust and the Endowment Funds of St Thomas's Hospital.


Author(s):  
Audrey Rousseaud ◽  
Stephanie Moriceau ◽  
Mariana Ramos-Brossier ◽  
Franck Oury

AbstractReciprocal relationships between organs are essential to maintain whole body homeostasis. An exciting interplay between two apparently unrelated organs, the bone and the brain, has emerged recently. Indeed, it is now well established that the brain is a powerful regulator of skeletal homeostasis via a complex network of numerous players and pathways. In turn, bone via a bone-derived molecule, osteocalcin, appears as an important factor influencing the central nervous system by regulating brain development and several cognitive functions. In this paper we will discuss this complex and intimate relationship, as well as several pathologic conditions that may reinforce their potential interdependence.


2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (2) ◽  
pp. 4913-4918
Author(s):  
Anna Schwendicke ◽  
M. Ercan Altinsoy

Humans perceive whole-body vibration in many daily life situations. Often they are exposed to whole-body vibration in combination with acoustic events. Sound and vibration usually stems from the same source, for example concerts or travelling in vehicles, such as automobile, aircrafts, or ships. While we can describe acoustic stimuli using psychoacoustic descriptors such as loudness or timbre, the description human perception of whole body vibration frequently has been reduced to comfort or quality in the past. Unlike loudness or timbre, comfort and quality are dependent on the overall context. Especially in vehicles expectations might differ lot between different vehicle classes. Previous studies have evaluated a large range of suitable descriptors for whole-body vibrations that are independent of context. They suggest that certain descriptors are driven to a large extend by the frequency content of the vibration. This study systematically investigates the influence of frequency content on the perception of whole-body vibration varying frequency content and intensity of the vibrations. The results verify the frequency dependence of specific descriptors and identify the respective frequency ranges.


2005 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Merfeld ◽  
Sukyung Park ◽  
Claire Gianna-Poulin ◽  
F. Owen Black ◽  
Scott Wood

II. VOR and perceptual responses during combined Tilt&Translation. To compare and contrast the neural mechanisms that contribute to vestibular perception and action, we measured vestibuloocular reflexes (VOR) and perceptions of tilt and translation. We took advantage of the well-known ambiguity that the otolith organs respond to both linear acceleration and tilt with respect to gravity and investigated the mechanisms by which this ambiguity is resolved. A new motion paradigm that combined roll tilt with inter-aural translation (“ Tilt&Translation”) was used; subjects were sinusoidally (0.8 Hz) roll tilted but with their ears above or below the rotation axis. This paradigm provided sinusoidal roll canal cues that were the same across trials while providing otolith cues that varied linearly with ear position relative to the earth-horizontal rotation axis. We found that perceived tilt and translation depended on canal cues, with substantial roll tilt and inter-aural translation perceptions reported even when the otolith organs measured no inter-aural force. These findings match internal model predictions that rotational cues from the canals influence the neural processing of otolith cues. We also found horizontal translational VORs that varied linearly with radius; a minimal response was measured when the otolith organs transduced little or no inter-aural force. Hence, the horizontal translational VOR was dependent on otolith cues but independent of canal cues. These findings match predictions that translational VORs are elicited by simple filtering of otolith signals. We conclude that internal models govern human perception of tilt and translation at 0.8 Hz and that high-pass filtering governs the human translational VOR at this same frequency.


1990 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 2215-2221 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Dudley ◽  
R. T. Harris ◽  
M. R. Duvoisin ◽  
B. M. Hather ◽  
P. Buchanan

The speed-torque relationship of the right knee extensor muscle group was investigated in eight untrained subjects (28 +/- 2 yr old). Torque was measured at a specific knee angle during isokinetic concentric or eccentric actions at nine angular velocities (0.17-3.66 rad/s) and during isometric actions. Activation was by "maximal" voluntary effort or by transcutaneous tetanic electrical stimulation that induced an isometric torque equal to 60% (STIM 1) or 45% (STIM 2) of the voluntary isometric value. Torque increased (P less than 0.05) to 1.4 times isometric as the speed of eccentric actions increased to 1.57 rad/s for STIM 1 and STIM 2. Thereafter, increases in eccentric speed did not further increase torque. Torque did not increase (P greater than 0.05) above isometric for voluntary eccentric actions. As the speed of concentric actions increased from 0.00 to 3.66 rad/s, torque decreased (P less than 0.05) more (P less than 0.05) for both STIM 1 and STIM 2 (two-thirds) than for voluntary activation (one-half). As a result of these responses, torque changed three times as much (P less than 0.05) across speeds of concentric and eccentric actions with artificial (3.4-fold) than voluntary (1.1-fold) activation. The results indicate that with artificial activation the normalized speed-torque relationship of the knee extensors in situ is remarkably similar to that of isolated muscle. The relationship for voluntary activation, in contrast, suggests that the ability of the central nervous system to activate the knee extensors during maximal efforts depends on the speed and type of muscle action performed.


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