Gravity
by M&C
Thesis defence by Ms. S.A.E. Nooij: "Vestibular adaptation to an altered gravitational environment: Consequences for spatial orientation"
20 May 2008 | 10:00 o'clock
location: Aula TU Delft
Ms. S.A.E. Nooij | degree in motion sciences, The Netherlands
promotors | Prof.dr. W.J. Ockels (LR) and prof.dr. L. Young (MIT, USA)
Vestibular adaptation to an altered gravitational environment: Consequences for spatial orientation
Earth’s gravity is an omnipresent factor in human life and provides a strong reference for spatial orientation. Changes in the prevailing gravity level, like the transition to weightlessness during space flight, affect spatial orientation and require adaptation of many physiological processes involving the vestibular system. As long as adaptation is not complete, this may be accompanied by nausea, visual or self-motion illusions, and disorientation, as experienced by roughly 50% of all space travelers during the first days of spaceflight. Interestingly, the same symptoms can also be experienced on Earth, after sustained exposure to a higher gravitational load in a human centrifuge (i.e., >60 minutes at a level of 3 times Earth’s gravity). And importantly, individual susceptibilities to these symptoms during space flight and following centrifugation are correlated. This indicates that it is not weightlessness per se that causes these symptoms, but that there seems to be a general mechanism for adaptation to an altered gravitational environment. In this thesis the paradigm of sustained centrifugation is used to study the vestibular effects of gravity transitions and the underlying adaptation mechanism. The results provide valuable information regarding the cause of the symptoms and are relevant for the application of artificial gravity during space flight.
More information?
For access to theses by the PhD students you can have a look in TU Delft Repository at: repository.tudelft.nl. TU Delft Repository is the digital storage of publications of TU Delft. Theses will be available within a few weeks after the actual thesis defence.
