Gaze Control in Microgravity: 1. Saccades, Pursuit, Eye-Head Coordination

Abstract

During the long-duration spaceflight Aragatz on board the Mir station, an experiment exploring the different oculomotor subsystems involved in gaze control during orientation to a fixed target or when tracking a moving target was executed by two cosmonauts. Gaze orientation: with head fixed, the “main sequence” relationships of primary horizontal saccades were modified, peak velocity was higher and saccade duration was shorter in flight than on earth, latency was decreased and saccade accuracy was better in flight. With head free, gaze orientation toward the target was achieved by coordinated eye and head movements, their timing was maintained in the horizontal plane; when gaze was stabilized on the target, there was a trend of a larger eye than head contribution not seen in preflight tests. Pursuit: Horizontal pursuit at 0.25 and 0.5 Hz frequency remained smooth with a 0.98 gain and minor phase lag, on earth and in flight. In the vertical plane, the eye did not track the target with a pure smooth pursuit eye movement, but the saccadic system contributed to gaze control. Upward tracking was mainly achieved with a succession of saccades, whereas downward tracking was due to combined smooth pursuit and catch-up saccades. This asymmetry was maintained during flight in head fixed and head free situations. On earth head pea velocity was maxima upward, and in flight it was maximal downward.