Human manual control performance in hyper-gravity
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Author(s)
Newman, Michael C.
Merfeld, Daniel M.
Young, Laurence R.
Clark, Torin K.
Oman, Charles M.
Date Issued
February 2015
Journal
Experimental Brain Research
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Citation
Clark, Torin K., Michael C. Newman, Daniel M. Merfeld, Charles M. Oman, and Laurence R. Young. “Human Manual Control Performance in Hyper-Gravity.” Experimental Brain Research 233, no. 5 (February 5, 2015): 1409–1420.
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Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Hyper-gravity provides a unique environment to study how misperceptions impact control of orientation relative to gravity. Previous studies have found that static and dynamic roll tilts are perceptually overestimated in hyper-gravity. The current investigation quantifies how this influences control of orientation. We utilized a long-radius centrifuge to study manual control performance in hyper-gravity. In the dark, subjects were tasked with nulling out a pseudo-random roll disturbance on the cab of the centrifuge using a rotational hand controller to command their roll rate in order to remain perceptually upright. The task was performed in 1, 1.5, and 2 G’s of net gravito-inertial acceleration. Initial performance, in terms of root-mean-square deviation from upright, degraded in hyper-gravity relative to 1 G performance levels. In 1.5 G, initial performance degraded by 26 % and in 2 G, by 45 %. With practice, however, performance in hyper-gravity improved to near the 1 G performance level over several minutes. Finally, pre-exposure to one hyper-gravity level reduced initial performance decrements in a different, novel, hyper-gravity level. Perceptual overestimation of roll tilts in hyper-gravity leads to manual control performance errors, which are reduced both with practice and with pre-exposure to alternate hyper-gravity stimuli.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-015-4215-y
