title: Vestibulo-oculomotor research and measurement technology for the space station era.
abstract: Recent improvements in measurement techniques and mathematical representations for eye, head and body movement have enhanced our appreciation of the complexity of spatial orientation and locomotion in three-dimensional space. The shortcomings of present measurement techniques, and their solution with emerging technologies are described. The prolonged microgravity conditions on the space station provide a unique opportunity to investigate these three-dimensional aspects of the vestibular and oculomotor systems, and in particular, the role of the otolith afferences. While the canal-ocular responses and their central pathways are reasonably well understood, the community has only recently become aware of the variety of functions fulfilled by otolith-mediated information, i.e., translational otolith-ocular reflex, inertial processing, gravitational reference, vergence control. Recent results, largely from experiments performed on the Mir Station, where the emphasis was on the otolith contribution to the vestibulo-ocular response mechanisms, are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Benjamin Franklin Vestibular Lab, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany. clarke@zedat.fu-berlin.de
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Clarke
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D018472:Hypogravity; D009801:Oculomotor Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D010037:Otolithic Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D012027:Reflex, Vestibulo-Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D018531:Spacecraft; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000502:physiology*