Abstract
AbstractWe explored how weightlessness during space flight altered the astronauts’ gaze behavior with respect to flight day and target eccentricity. Thirty-four astronauts of 20 Space Shuttle missions had to acquire visual targets with angular offsets of 20°, 30°, and 49°. 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. The in-flight changes in gaze behavior 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 prevent space 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.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory