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Biomedical subjects

Laurence R Young

Publications and source records attributed to Laurence R Young.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Adaptation of VOR to Coriolis stimulation.

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) is normally characterized by the gain and phase of slow-phase velocity (SPV) relative to the stimulus velocity. Although this is perfectly satisfactory for steady-state sinusoidal oscillations about a single axis, it is less useful when applied to transient responses. The well-known decay of nystagmus following a step change of head velocity approximately follows a double exponential, with an initial amplitude (A), a long time constant (tau), and an adaptation time constant (tau(a)). We have developed a means of representing the transient response for a complex head velocity stimulus as experienced during high-speed artificial gravity (AG) experiments. When a subject, lying supine on a rotating horizontal platform, makes a yaw head movement of amplitude theta, the vertical semicircular canals experience a step in angular velocity. The pitch stimulus is equal to the change in the component of the centrifuge angular velocity (omega(c)) aligned with the interaural axis, and gives rise to a vertical VOR. The magnitude of the step change is omega(c) sin theta. The SPV is approximated by an exponential decay of amplitude A and single time constant tau, and then normalized relative to this stimulus step. MATLAB scripts filter the raw eye position data to remove noise, blinks, and saccades, differentiate the signal, and remove fast phases to obtain SPV. The amplitude of the fitted SPV exponential is divided by omega(c) sin theta to obtain the normalized SPV. A and tau are shown to behave differently as subjects adapt to repeated head movements of different amplitudes.

Acclimatization↗
PubMed2003

Adaptation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex, subjective tilt, and motion sickness to head movements during short-radius centrifugation.

Head movements made while the whole body is rotating at unusually high angular velocities (here with supine body position about an earth-vertical axis) result in inappropriate eye movements, sensory illusions, disorientation, and frequently motion sickness. We investigated the acquisition and retention of sensory adaptation to cross-coupled components of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) by asking eight subjects to make headturns while being rotated at 23 rpm on two consecutive days, and again a week later. The dependent measures were inappropriate vertical VOR, subjective tilt, and motion sickness in response to 90 degrees yaw out-of-plane head movements. Motion sickness was evaluated during and following exposure to rotation. Significant adaptation effects were found for the slow phase velocity of vertical nystagmus, the reported magnitude of the subjective tilt experienced during head turns, and motion-sickness scores. Retention of adaptation over a six-day rest period without rotation occurred, but was not complete for all measures. Adaptation of VOR was fully maintained while subjective tilt was only partially maintained and motion-sickness scores continued to decrease. Practical implications of these findings are discussed with particular emphasis on artificial gravity, which could be produced in weightlessness by means of a short-radius (2 m) rotator.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2003

Models for neurovestibular adaptation.

Dynamic models have played a more prominent role in the vestibular and oculomotor field than in any other branch of physiology. The ease of identification of input and output variables and the challenge of multi-loop, multi-axis adaptive control has attracted numerous modelers from engineering and shaped behavioral and neurophysiological experimental programs. In particular, the adaptive characteristics of the neurovestibular system have generated continuing speculation as to mechanisms. This treatment of adaptation and multi-sensor integration covers the development and application of such models, principally in the author's laboratory. It emphasizes the continuing relevance of both "model reference" and "error pattern recognition" notions of adaptive control.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2002

Adapting to artificial gravity (AG) at high rotational speeds.

Short-radius centrifugation offers a promising countermeasure to the adverse effects of prolonged weightlessness. Head movements made in a rotating environment elicit Coriolis effects, which seriously compromise sensory and motor processes. We have previously found that, contrary to common belief, participants can adapt to the Coriolis effects associated with single-quadrant yaw head turns during 23-rpm short-radius centrifugation, while maintaining their adaptation to stationary environments. Here, we focus on motion sickness and illusory motion, the most problematic subjective side effects. We present encouraging data that such context-specific adaptation generalizes immediately to a different centrifuge environment. It also generalizes quickly to Coriolis forces in the opposite direction. Implications for AG implementation are discussed.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Artificial gravity--head movements during short-radius centrifugation: influence of cognitive effects.

Short-radius centrifugation is a potential countermeasure against the effects of prolonged weightlessness. Head movements in a rotating environment, however, induce serious side effects: inappropriate vestibular ocular reflexes (VOR), body-tilt illusions and motion sickness induced by cross-coupled accelerations on a rotating platform. These are well predicted by a semicircular canal model. The present study investigates cognitive effects on the inappropriate VOR and the illusory sensations experienced by subjects rotating on a short-radius centrifuge (SRC). Subjects (N=19) were placed supine on a rotating horizontal bed with their head at the center of rotation. To investigate the extent to which they could control their sensations voluntarily, subjects were asked alternatively to "fight" (i.e. to try to resist and suppress) those sensations, or to "go" with (i.e. try to enhance or, at least, acquiesce in) them. The only significant effect on the VOR of this cognitive intervention was to diminish the time constant characterizing the decay of the nystagmus in subjects who had performed the "go" (rather than the "fight") trials. However, illusory sensations, as measured by reported subjective intensities, were significantly less intense during the "fight" than during the "go" trials. These measurements also verified an asymmetry in illusory sensation known from earlier experiments: the illusory sensations are greater when the head is rotated from right ear down (RED) to nose up (NU) posture than from NU to RED. The subjects habituated, modestly, to the rotation between their first and second sequences of trials, but showed no better (or worse) suppression of illusory sensations thereafter. No significant difference in habituation was observed between the "fight" and "go" trials.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sensorimotor aspects of high-speed artificial gravity: I. Sensory conflict in vestibular adaptation.

Short-radius centrifugation offers a promising and affordable countermeasure to the adverse effects of prolonged weightlessness. However, head movements made in a fast rotating environment elicit Coriolis effects, which seriously compromise sensory and motor processes. We found that participants can adapt to these Coriolis effects when exposed intermittently to high rotation rates and, at the same time, can maintain their perceptual-motor coordination in stationary environments. In this paper, we explore the role of inter-sensory conflict in this adaptation process. Different measures (vertical nystagmus, illusory body tilt, motion sickness) react differently to visual-vestibular conflict and adapt differently. In particular, proprioceptive-vestibular conflict sufficed to adapt subjective parameters and the time constant of nystagmus decay, while retinal slip was required for VOR gain adaptation. A simple correlation between the strength of intersensory conflict and the efficacy of adaptation fails to explain the data. Implications of these findings, which differ from existing data for low rotation rates, are discussed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗