Pointing arm movements in short- and long-term spaceflights

Abstract

Accuracy and kinematics of horizontal arm pointing movements to visual targets were studied on three cosmonauts in 10-, 140-, and 172-d spaceflights in order to investigate mechanisms of the sensorimotor adaptation to microgravity. The Austrian equipment MONIMIR was mounted on board the Russian space station MIR and used for three-dimensional recording of the arm position and presentation of the targets. It was found that movement accuracy remained constant whereby movement durations significantly increased in all inflight sessions compared to the preflight baseline values. Inflight, movement peak velocities as well as acceleration and deceleration peak values decreased significantly. Analysis of the velocity-time profiles showed that the ratio between acceleration and deceleration phases decreased slightly for one cosmonaut and increased insignificantly for the other two cosmonauts. All phases of the acceleration-time profiles increased inflight by the same factor. These data fail to support the assumption of an increased role of the direct visual guidance in movement execution in microgravity. This suggests that the movement slowing in microgravity may be caused by a control strategy employed by the CNS to avoid the specific disadvantage of the absence of gravity. It is hypothesized that intra-movement control mechanisms play an important role in the movement coordination in the altered gravity environment.