Biomedical subjects

L Zupan

Publications and source records attributed to L Zupan.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Reproduction of ON-center and OFF-center self-rotations.

In self-rotation reproduction tasks, subjects appear to estimate the displacement angle and then reproduce this angle without necessarily replicating the entire temporal velocity profile. In contrast, subjects appear to reproduce the entire temporal velocity profile during linear motion stimulating the otoliths. To investigate what happens during combined rotation and translation, we investigated in darkness the central processing of vestibular cues during eccentric rotation. Controlling a centrifuge with a joystick, nine healthy subjects were asked to reproduce the angle of the previously imposed rotation. Rotations were either ON-center, or 50 cm OFF-center with inter-aural centripetal acceleration. Rotation duration was either variable (proportional to the traveled angle), or constant. We examined whether the stimulation of the otoliths during OFF-center rotation changes self-rotation reproduction, and whether rotation duration is processed differently by the nervous system with and without otolith stimulation. As postulated, the subjects indeed reproduced more closely the stimulus velocity profile when OFF-center. But the primary result is that the additional supra-threshold linear acceleration cues, measured by the otoliths, did not improve performance. More specifically, to our surprise, the ability to reproduce rotation angle degraded slightly in the presence of additional information from the otolith organs, with the linear acceleration cues appearing to interfere with the reproduction of movement duration.

Acceleration↗

PubMed1999

Humans use internal models to estimate gravity and linear acceleration.

Because sensory systems often provide ambiguous information, neural processes must exist to resolve these ambiguities. It is likely that similar neural processes are used by different sensory systems. For example, many tasks require neural processing to distinguish linear acceleration from gravity, but Einstein's equivalence principle states that all linear accelerometers must measure both linear acceleration and gravity. Here we investigate whether the brain uses internal models, defined as neural systems that mimic physical principles, to help estimate linear acceleration and gravity. Internal models may be used in motor contro, sensorimotor integration and sensory processing, but direct experimental evidence for such models is limited. To determine how humans process ambiguous gravity and linear acceleration cues, subjects were tilted after being rotated at a constant velocity about an Earth-vertical axis. We show that the eye movements evoked by this post-rotational tilt include a response component that compensates for the estimated linear acceleration even when no actual linear acceleration occurs. These measured responses are consistent with our internal model predictions that the nervous system can develop a non-zero estimate of linear acceleration even when no true linear acceleration is present.

Acceleration↗

PubMed1999

Effects of static orientation upon human optokinetic afternystagmus.

"Normal" human subjects were placed in a series of 5 static orientations with respect to gravity and were asked to view an optokinetic display moving at a constant angular velocity. The axis of rotation coincided with the subject's rostro-caudal axis and produced horizontal optokinetic nystagmus and afternystagmus. Wall (1) previously reported that these optokinetic afternystagmus responses were not well characterized by parametric fits to slow component velocity. The response for nose-up, however, was larger than for nose-down. This suggested that the horizontal eye movements measured during optokinetic stimulation might include an induced linear VOR component as presented in the body of this paper. To investigate this hypothesis, another analysis of these data has been made using cumulative slow component eye position. Some subjects' responses had reversals in afternystagmus direction. These reversals were "filled in" by a zero slow component velocity. This method of analysis gives a much more consistent result across subjects and shows that, on average, responses from the nose-down horizontal (prone) orientation are greatly reduced (p < 0.05) compared to other horizontal and vertical orientations. Average responses are compared to responses predicted by a model previously used to predict successfully the responses to post-rotatory nystagmus after earth horizontal axis rotation. Ten of 11 subjects had larger responses in their supine than their prone orientation. Application of horizontal axis optokinetic afternystagmus for clinical otolith function testing, and implications for altered gravity experiments are discussed.

Gravitation↗

PubMed1996

Motion sickness during off-vertical axis rotation: prediction by a model of sensory interactions and correlation with other forms of motion sickness.

Motion sickness (MS) susceptibility of 108 normal subjects was measured during off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) as a function of angular velocity (60-180 degrees/s). The chair rotated about a longitudinal axis tilted 30 degrees with respect to gravity. For each velocity, we measured the duration of exposure necessary to evoke a moderate malaise, with a limit of 30 min. MS appeared the fastest at a rotation velocity of 105 degrees/s; higher or lower velocities were less provocative. These results are in good agreement with predictions made by Zupan et al. [in ICANN'94, Springer-Verlag, 1995] by means of a MS mathematical model derived from a model of sensory interactions [Droulez and Darlot, in Attention and Performance, Vol. 13, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, 1989]. We also found that MS susceptibility during OVAR is positively correlated with susceptibility to other forms of MS. Since OVAR induces sensory messages very different from those induced by other provocative stimulations, this could suggest that the sensitivity of a common final vegetative locus is an important factor of the individual differences in susceptibility to MS.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Computation of inverse dynamics for the control of movements.

Accuracy of movements requires that the central nervous system computes approximate inverse functions of the mechanical functions of limb articulations. In vertebrates, this is known to be achieved within the cerebellar pathways, and also in the cerebral cortex of primates. A cybernetic circuit achieving this computation allows accurate simulation of fast movements of the eye or forearm. It is consistent with anatomy, and with the classical view of the cerebellum as permanently supervised by the inferior olive. The inferior olive detects over-or under-shoots of movements, and the resulting climbing fiber activity corrects ongoing movements, regulates the function of cerebellar cortex and nuclei, and sets the gains of the sensorimotor reactions.

Cerebellum↗