The Perception of Self-Motion in Microgravity. Harris, L. R., Jorges, B, Bury, N., McManus, M, Allison, R. S., & Jenkin, M In IAA Humans in Space Conference. Moscow, Russia, 04, 2021.
The Perception of Self-Motion in Microgravity [link]Paper  The Perception of Self-Motion in Microgravity [link]-1  abstract   bibtex   
Moving around in a zero-gravity environment is very different from moving on Earth. The vestibular system in 0g registers only the accelerations associated with movement and no longer has to distinguish them from the acceleration of gravity. How does this affect an astronaut's perception of space and movement? Here we explore how the perception of self-motion and distance changes during and following long-duration exposure to 0g. Our hypothesis was that absence of gravity cues should lead participants to rely more strongly on visual information in 0g compared to on Earth. We tested a cohort of ISS astronauts five times: before flight, twice during flight (within 6 days of arrival in space and after 3 months in 0g) and twice after flight (within 6 days of re-entry and 2 months after returning). Data collection is on-going, but we have currently tested 8 out of 10 participants. Using Virtual Reality, astronauts performed two tasks. Task 1, the perception of self-motion task, measures how much visual motion is required to create the sensation of moving through a particular distance. Astronauts viewed a target at one of several distances in front of them in a virtual corridor. The target then disappeared, and they experienced visually simulated self-motion along the corridor and pressed a button to indicate when they had reached the position of the remembered target. Task 2 was the perception of distance task. We presented a virtual cube in the same corridor and asked the astronauts to judge whether the cube's sides were longer or shorter than a reference length they held in their hands. We inferred the distance at which they perceived the target from the size that they chose to match the reference length. Preliminary analysis of the results with Linear Mixed-Effects Modelling suggests that participants did not experience any differences in perceived self-motion on first arriving in space (p = 0.783). After being in space for three months, however, they needed significantly more visual motion (7.5%) to create the impression they had passed through the target distance (p < 0.001), indicating that visual motion (optic flow) elicited a weaker sense of self-motion than before adapting to the space environment. Astronauts also made size matches that were consistent with underestimating perceived distance in space (on arrival: 26.6% closer, p < 0.001; after 3 months: 26.3% closer, p < 0.001) compared to the pre-test on Earth. Our results indicate that prolonged exposure to 0g tends to decrease the effective use of visual information for the perception of travelled distance. This effect cannot be explained in terms of biased distance perception. Knowing that astronauts are likely to misperceive their self-motion and the scale their environment is critical information for the design of safe operations in space and for readjustment to other gravity levels found on the Moon and Mars. We acknowledge the generous support of the Canadian Space Agency (15ILSRA1-York).
@incollection{Harris:2021bh,
	abstract = {Moving around in a zero-gravity environment is very different from moving on Earth. The vestibular system in 0g registers only the accelerations associated with movement and no longer has to distinguish them from the acceleration of gravity. How does this affect an astronaut's perception of space and movement?  Here we explore how the perception of self-motion and distance changes during and following long-duration exposure to 0g. Our hypothesis was that absence of gravity cues should lead participants to rely more strongly on visual information in 0g compared to on Earth. We tested a cohort of ISS astronauts five times: before flight, twice during flight (within 6 days of arrival in space and after 3 months in 0g) and twice after flight (within 6 days of re-entry and 2 months after returning). Data collection is on-going, but we have currently tested 8 out of 10 participants. Using Virtual Reality, astronauts performed two tasks. Task 1, the perception of self-motion task, measures how much visual motion is required to create the sensation of moving through a particular distance. Astronauts viewed a target at one of several distances in front of them in a virtual corridor. The target then disappeared, and they experienced visually simulated self-motion along the corridor and pressed a button to indicate when they had reached the position of the remembered target. Task 2 was the perception of distance task. We presented a virtual cube in the same corridor and asked the astronauts to judge whether the cube's sides were longer or shorter than a reference length they held in their hands. We inferred the distance at which they perceived the target from the size that they chose to match the reference length. Preliminary analysis of the results with Linear Mixed-Effects Modelling suggests that participants did not experience any differences in perceived self-motion on first arriving in space (p = 0.783). After being in space for three months, however, they needed significantly more visual motion (7.5\%) to create the impression they had passed through the target distance (p < 0.001), indicating that visual motion (optic flow) elicited a weaker sense of self-motion than before adapting to the space environment. Astronauts also made size matches that were consistent with underestimating perceived distance in space (on arrival: 26.6\% closer, p < 0.001; after 3 months: 26.3\% closer, p < 0.001) compared to the pre-test on Earth. Our results indicate that prolonged exposure to 0g tends to decrease the effective use of visual information for the perception of travelled distance. This effect cannot be explained in terms of biased distance perception. Knowing that astronauts are likely to misperceive their self-motion and the scale their environment is critical information for the design of safe operations in space and for readjustment to other gravity levels found on the Moon and Mars.
 
We acknowledge the generous support of the Canadian Space Agency (15ILSRA1-York).},
	address = {Moscow, Russia},
	annote = {HIS
23rd IAA Humans in Space05-08 April 2021},
	author = {Harris, L. R. and Jorges, B and Bury, N. and McManus, M and Allison, R. S. and Jenkin, M},
	booktitle = {IAA Humans in Space Conference},
	date-added = {2023-03-21 17:32:59 -0400},
	date-modified = {2023-03-21 17:32:59 -0400},
	keywords = {Optic flow & Self Motion (also Locomotion & Aviation)},
	month = {04},
	title = {The Perception of Self-Motion in Microgravity},
	url = {https://iaaspace.org/event/23rd-iaa-humans-in-space-symposium-2021/},
	year = {2021},
	url-1 = {https://iaaspace.org/event/23rd-iaa-humans-in-space-symposium-2021/}}
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