TY  - JOUR
U1  - Zeitschriftenartikel, wissenschaftlich - begutachtet (reviewed)
A1  - Harris, Laurence R.
A1  - Jenkin, Michael
A1  - Herpers, Rainer
T1  - Long-duration head down bed rest as an analog of microgravity: Effects on the static perception of upright
JF  - Journal of Vestibular Research
N2  - BACKGROUND: Humans demonstrate many physiological changes in microgravity for which long-duration head down bed rest (HDBR) is a reliable analog. However, information on how HDBR affects sensory processing is lacking.
OBJECTIVE: We previously showed [25] that microgravity alters the weighting applied to visual cues in determining the perceptual upright (PU), an effect that lasts long after return. Does long-duration HDBR have comparable effects?
METHODS: We assessed static spatial orientation using the luminous line test (subjective visual vertical, SVV) and the oriented character recognition test (PU) before, during and after 21 days of 6° HDBR in 10 participants. Methods were essentially identical as previously used in orbit [25].
RESULTS: Overall, HDBR had no effect on the reliance on visual relative to body cues in determining the PU. However, when considering the three critical time points (pre-bed rest, end of bed rest, and 14 days post-bed rest) there was a significant decrease in reliance on visual relative to body cues, as found in microgravity. The ratio had an average time constant of 7.28 days and returned to pre-bed-rest levels within 14 days. The SVV was unaffected.
CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that bed rest can be a useful analog for the study of the perception of static self-orientation during long-term exposure to microgravity. More detailed work on the precise time course of our effects is needed in both bed rest and microgravity conditions.
KW  - head down bed rest
KW  - Human orientation perception
KW  - subjective visual vertical
KW  - Perceptual Upright
KW  - HDBR
KW  - space flight analog
Y1  - 2022
UN  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:1044-opus-59877
SN  - 1878-6464
SS  - 1878-6464
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3233/VES-210016
DO  - https://doi.org/10.3233/VES-210016
PM  - 34719448
VL  - 32
IS  - 4
SP  - 325
EP  - 340
PB  - IOS Press
ER  -