Astronauts eye-head coordination dysfunction over the course of twenty space shuttle flights

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Coordination of motor activity is adapted to Earth’s gravity (1 g). However, during space flight the gravity level changes from Earth gravity to hypergravity during launch, and to microgravity (0 g) in orbit. This transition between gravity levels may alter the coordination between eye and head movements in gaze performance.

OBJECTIVE:

We explored how weightlessness during space flight altered the astronauts’ eye-head coordination (EHC) with respect to flight day and target eccentricity.

METHODS:

Thirty-four astronauts of 20 Space Shuttle missions had to acquire visual targets with angular offsets of 20°, 30°, and 49°.

RESULTS:

Measurements of eye, head, and gaze positions collected before and during flight days 1 to 15 indicated changes during target acquisition that varied as a function of flight days and target eccentricity.

CONCLUSIONS:

The in-flight alterations in EHC were presumably the result of a combination of several factors, including a transfer from allocentric to egocentric reference for spatial orientation in absence of a gravitational reference, the generation of slower head movements to attenuate motion sickness, and a decrease in smooth pursuit and vestibulo-ocular reflex performance. These results confirm that humans have several strategies for gaze behavior, between which they switch depending on the environmental conditions.