Spatial Orientation and Motor Skills: How to Flip Switches "Down" in Weightlessness?

University Hospital, Caen18 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of the study is to investigate spatial orientation in weightlessness as it manifests not in perception but rather in motor performance by direction and reaction time of flip switch. Hypotheses are that flip switch: 1. will be biased towards visual allocentric cues when those are available; 2. will be biased towards the egocentric reference when tactile cues are added; 3. will be dominated by egocentric cues when visual cues are not available; 4. will be delayed and more variable when confirmatory gravitational cues are absent; 5. will be faster and more reliable in absence of conflicting gravitational cues, and even more so when tactile cues are added; 6. The difference will be more pronounce when tested under Dual-task condition

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Healthy Volunteers

Interventions

FLIP SWITCHES "DOWN" IN WEIGHTLESSNESS

The circular instrument panel that subjects will see into the cylindrical mask consists of one switch surrounded by a luminous ring (left part of the figure below). The switch can be flipped into any direction within the full 360° range. The switch provides no visual cues about "down", but the experimenter can add such cues by means of visually polarized labelling displayed on a circular black screen at the center of the panel (right part the figure below).

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 20 YearsMax age: 65 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Healthy volunteers (men or women) * Aged from 20 to 65 * Affiliated to a Social Security system and, for non-French resident, holding a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) * Who accepted to take part in the study * Who have given their written stated consent * Who has passed a medical examination similar to a standard aviation medical examination for private pilot aptitude (JAR FCL3 Class 2 medical examination). There will be no additional test performed for subject selection. Subjects will be staff member of the team or of other teams participating in the parabolic flight campaign Exclusion Criteria: * Person who took part in a previous biomedical research protocol, of which exclusion period is not terminated * Person who has already participated in a parabolic flight * Pregnant women

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

reaction time of flip switch measured with a chronometer

Time frame: baseline

Direction of flip switch measured with the circular instrument panel

Time frame: baseline

Central Contacts

Pierre DP Denise, PhD

CONTACT

02.31.06.81.32 pierre.denise@unicaen.fr

Cathy GC Gaillard