VOILA: Visuomotor and Orientation Investigations in Long-Duration Astronauts

The International Space Station Flight Experiments (ISS) E085/E507 VOILA investigation extends, simplifies, and merges two sensory motor and performance experiments originally developed for the 1998 STS-90 Neurolab mission. The two components retain separate numbers (E085/E507) on ISS, but are performed together. The experiments use the HRF Workstation 2 as a “science kiosk” to perform short (typically 30 minute long) tests to study the role of visual, vestibular, and haptic cues on spatial orientation and motor behavior. The experiment utilizes virtual environment generation accessories first developed for the Neurolab as a tool to study these processes during and after long duration (3-6 month) orbital flight. Restrained and free-floating subjects wear a wide field of view, color stereo head mounted display. Tests are based on 1-G paradigms, require little set-up time, and can be selected and performed by an astronaut in an automated fashion using Session Manager software. Three pre-flight, three in-flight, and three post-flight performances of each test are planned on each ISS increment.

The general hypothesis is that mental processes involved in self-orientation, object perception and motor control will be fundamentally altered in microgravity environments, as evidenced by visual reorientation, inversion, and proprioceptive illusions frequently reported in-orbit by astronauts. Our experiments on self-orientation, linear vection, object perception and motor control will help us characterize the contribution of gravity to the mechanisms underlying these activities.

The objective is to determine the effects of microgravity on: (1) the influence of scene symmetry, rotation, haptic cues, and expected orientation on static and dynamic self tilt (Virtual Tilting and Tumbling Room Tests); (2) the onset of x-axis illusory linear self-motion without haptic cues (Linear Vection Test); (3) the effect of perceived orientation on visual object recognition and shape recognition (Object Recognition Tests); (4) whether information used in grasping remembered objects is stored in head fixed, body fixed, or exocentric reference frames (Virtual Grasping Test); and (5) how the timing of catching movements depends on anticipation of downward acceleration (Virtual Catching Test).