Multimodal and motor influences on orientation: implications for adapting to weightless and virtual environments

Abstract

Human sensory-motor control and orientation involve the correlation of sensory information from many modalities with motor information about ongoing patterns of voluntary and reflexive activation of the body musculature. The vestibular system represents only one of the acceleration-sensitive receptor systems of the body conveying spatial information. Touch- and pressure-dependent receptors, somatosensory and interoceptive, as well as proprioceptive receptors contribute, along with visual and auditory signals specifying relative motion between self and surround. Control of body movement and orientation is dynamically adapted to the 1G force background of Earth. Exposure to non-1G environments such as in space travel produces a variety of sensory-motor disturbances, and often motion sickness, until adaptation is achieved. Exposure to virtual environments in which body movements are not accompanied by normal patterns of inertial and sensory feedback can also lead to control errors and elicit motion sickness.