Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Orientation in Space, Vestibular Function, and Ocular Tracking in a Changed Gravitational Environment

  • REVIEWS
  • Published:
Human Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The paper reports the results of the author’s sensorimotor physiology studies made under the guidance of I.B. Kozlovskaya. The vestibular function and ocular tracking tests were performed by more than 100 cosmonauts prior to and after long-term missions to the Mir space station and International Space Station. Fifty-two of them performed these tests between mission days 129 to 215. We studied orientation illusions, spontaneous eye movements, static vestibulo-ocular response to head turns (static otolith-cervical reflex), dynamic vestibulo-ocular responses to the head rotation about the body axis, precision of fixational eye movements, and smooth tracking. The results of testing in the real changed gravity were compared with the data of 7- to 21-day simulation studies with horizontal dry immersion. The tests revealed four forms of vestibular disorders characterized by disturbances of spatial perception, orientation illusions, inversions of vection illusions, weakening of static and strengthening of dynamic vestibulo-ocular responses, a new visual tracking strategy termed saccadic approximation, where the gaze approaches or tracks a target using a series of saccadic movements. In addition, the tests made it possible to clarify the impact of afferentation deficit (sensory deprivation) on accuracy of ocular and ocular–manual tracking and validate additional sensory stimulation as a method to counteract the effects of sensory deprivation in real and simulated microgravity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  1. Laboratory of Vestibular physiology, Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences. http://vestibularlab.ru/?lang=en

  2. Thornton, W., A rationale for space motion sickness, Aviat. Space Environ. Med., 2011, vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 467–468. https://doi.org/10.3357/asem.2907.2011

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Thornton, W. and Bonato, F., Space motion sickness and motion sickness: symptoms and etiology, Aviat. Space Environ. Med., 2013, vol. 84, no. 7, pp. 716–721. https://doi.org/10.3357/asem.3449.2013

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Clement, G. and Ngo-Anh, J.T., Space physiology II: adaptation of the central nervous system to spaceflight—past, current, and future studies, Eur. J. Appl. Physiol., 2013, vol. 113, no. 7, pp. 1655–1672.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Cohen, B., Yakushin, S., Badakva, A., Kozlovskaya, I., et al., Vestibular experiments in space, Adv. Space Biol. Med., 2005, vol. 10, pp. 105–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kornilova, L., Grigorova, W., Myuller, C., et al., Vestibular system. Intersensory interaction. Spatial perception and orientation in space. Space adaptation syndrome and space motion sickness, in Orbital’naya stantsiya “Mir” (Mir Orbital Station), 2 vols., Moscow, 2002, pp. 208–252, 563–583.

  7. Kornilova, L.N., Naumov, I.A., Sagalovitch, S.V., and Reshke, M., Vestibular function and visual tracking after prolonged space flights, in Kosmicheskaya biologiya i meditsina (Space Biology and Medicine), Moscow, 2011, vol. 2, pp. 124–166.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kornilova, L.N., Naumov, I.A., and Kozlovskaya, I.B., Neurosensory studies of the human vestibular function, in Kosmicheskaya biologiya i meditsina (Space Biology and Medicine), Grigor’ev, A.I., and Ushakov, I.B., Eds., Voronezh, 2013, pp. 278–297.

  9. Kornilova, L.N., Orientation illusions in spaceflight, J. Vestibular Res., 1997, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 429–439.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Lackner, J. and DiZio, P., Human orientation and movement control in weightless and artificial gravity environments, Exp. Brain Res., 2000, vol. 130, no. 1, pp. 2–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002210050002

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Mueller, C., et al., Visually induced vertical self-motion sensation is altered in microgravity adaptation, J. Vestibular Res., 1994, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 161–167.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Clarke, A., Just, K., Krzok, W., and Schönfeld, U., Listing’s plane and the 3D-VOR in microgravity—The role of the otolith afferences, J. Vestibular Res., 2013, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 61–70. https://doi.org/10.3233/VES-130476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Young, L., Perception of the body in space: mechanisms, in Handbook of Physiology, Part 1: The Nervous System, Brookhart, J.M. and Mountcastle, V.B., Eds., Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1984, vol. 3, pp. 1023–1066.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Raphan, T., Dai, M., and Cohen, B., Spatial orientation of the vestibular system, in Sensing and Controlling Motion: Vestibular and Sensorimotor Function, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., vol. 656, Cohen, B., Tomko, D.W., and Guedry, F.E., Eds., New York: New York Acad. Sci., 1992, pp. 140–157.

  15. Babiyak, V.I. and Yanov, Yu.I., Vestibulyarnaya funktsional’naya sistema (Vestibular Functional System), St. Petersburg, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Leigh, R. and Zee, D., The Neurology of Eye Movements, Oxford: Oxford, Univ. Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199969289.001.0001

  17. Shul’govskii, V., Osnovy neirofiziologii (Fundamentals of Neurophysiology), Moscow, 2000.

  18. Shul’govskii, V., Fiziologiya vysshei nervnoi deyatel’nosti s osnovami neirobiologii (Physiology of Higher Nervous Activity with Principles of Neurobiology: Manual), Moscow, 2003.

  19. Kornilova, L.N., The role of gravitation-dependent system in visual tracking, Neurosci. Behav. Physiol., 2004, vol. 34, no. 8, pp. 773–781.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Kozlovskaya, I.B., Fundamental and applied objectives of investigation in dry immersion, Hum. Physiol., 2010, vol. 36, pp. 808–812.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Navasiolava, N., Custaud, M.-A., Tomilovskaya, E., et al., Long-term dry immersion: review and prospects, Eur. J. Appl. Physiol., 2011, vol. 111, no. 7, pp. 1235–1260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-010-1750-x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Tomilovskaya, E., Shigueva, T., Sayenko, D., Rukavishnikov, I., et al., Dry immersion as a ground-based model of microgravity physiological effects, Front. Physiol., 2019, vol. 10, art. ID 284. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00284

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Krasnov, I.B., Electron microscopic analysis of the structu-ral elements of the vestibular entrance to the Purkinje cells of the nodulus of rats in a 9-day space flight, Aviakosm. Ekol. Med., 2008, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 20–27.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Krasnov, I.B., Purkinje cells of the vestibular and proprioceptive regions of rat cerebellum after a 14-day spaceflight, Aviakosm. Ekol. Med., 2009, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 43–47.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Kozlovskaya, I.B., Ilyin, E.A., Sirota, M.G., et al., Studies of space adaptation syndrome in experiments on primates performed on board of Soviet biosatellites “Cosmos-1887,” Physiologist, 1989, vol. 32, no. 1, p. 45.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Sirota, M., Babaev, B.M., and Belozerova, I.N., Bioelectrical activity of vestibular nuclei in microgravity, in Rezul’taty issledovanii na biosputnikakh (Results of Research on Biosatellites), Gazenko, O.G., Ed., Moscow, 1992, p. 29.

  27. Cohen, B., Tomko, D., and Guedry, F., Vestibular and sensorimotor function in microgravity, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1992, vol. 682, p. 340.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Cohen, B., Yakushin, S., Holstein, G., et al., Vestibular experiments in space, Adv. Space Biol. Med., 2005, vol. 10, p. 105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Belichenko, P. and Leontovich, T., Study of a giant multipolar neuron of the reticular formation of the rat brain after a 14-day space flight, Aviakosm. Ekol. Med., 1992, vol. 26, nos. 5–6, pp. 24–29.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Dyachkova, L., Ultrastructural characteristics of plastic changes in the brain cortex of rats exposed to spaceflight, Physiologist, 1991, vol. 34, no. 4, p. 185.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is grateful to I.B. Kozlovskaya, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics, laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, Professor for the regular scientific support. The author would like to thank the cosmonauts and laboratory personnel for their active collaboration in scientific experiments.

FUNDINGThis study was supported by the core funding of the Russian Academy of Sciences, topic no. 63.1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, 123007, Moscow, Russia

    L. N. Kornilova

Authors
  1. L. N. Kornilova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. N. Kornilova.

Ethics declarations

COMPLIANCE WITH ETHICAL STANDARDS

The experiments were approved by the Biomedical Ethics Committee of the Institute of Biomedical Problems.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no obvious and potential conflicts of interest related to the publication of this article.

INFORMED CONSENT

Each study participant provided a voluntary written informed consent signed after explanation of the potential risks and benefits, as well as the nature of the upcoming study.

Additional information

Translated by M. Novikova

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kornilova, L.N. Orientation in Space, Vestibular Function, and Ocular Tracking in a Changed Gravitational Environment. Hum Physiol 47, 803–809 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119721070033

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119721070033

Keywords:

Search

Navigation