Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Division of Environmental Physiology, Swedish Aerospace Physiology Center, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
J Neurophysiol. 2024 Sep 1;132(3):710-721. doi: 10.1152/jn.00129.2024. Epub 2024 Jul 17.
Without visual references, nonpilots exposed to coordinated flight turns underestimate the bank angle, because of discordant information of the roll-angular displacement from the otoliths, consistently signaling vertical position, versus the semicircular canals, enabling detection of the displacement. Pilots may also use their ability to perceive the G load and knowledge of the relation between load and angle to assess the bank angle. Our aim was to investigate whether the perception of bank angle can be improved by spatial orientation training in a centrifuge. Sixteen pilots/pilot students assessed their roll tilt, in complete darkness, during both real coordinated flight turns and gondola centrifugation, at roll tilts of 30° and 60°. The experiments were repeated after a 3-wk period, during which eight of the subjects performed nine training sessions in the centrifuge, comprising feedback on roll angle vs. G load, and on indicating requested angles. Before training, the subjects perceived in the aircraft and centrifuge, respectively: 37 (17)°, 38 (14)° during 60° turns and 19 (12)°, 20 (10)° during 30° turns. Training improved the perception of angle during the 60° [to 60 (7)°, 55 (10)°; ≤ 0.04] but not the 30° [21 (10)°, 15 (9)°; ≥ 0.30] turns; the improvement disappeared within 2 yr after training. Angle assessments did not change in the untrained group. The results suggest that it is possible to, in a centrifuge, train a pilot's ability to perceive large but not discrete-to-moderate roll-angular displacements. The transient training effect is attributable to improved capacity to perceive and translate G load into roll angle and/or to increased reliance on semicircular canal signals. Spatial disorientation is a major problem in aviation. When performing coordinated flight turns without external visual cues (e.g., flying in clouds or darkness), the pilot underestimates the aircraft bank angle because the vestibular system provides unreliable information of roll tilt. The present study demonstrates that it is possible to, in a long-arm centrifuge, train a pilot's ability to perceive large but not discrete-to-moderate roll-angular displacements.
在没有视觉参考的情况下，非飞行员在进行协调转弯时会低估倾斜角度，因为耳石的滚转角位移信息与半规管不一致，后者始终发出垂直位置的信号，而半规管能够检测到位移。飞行员也可能利用他们感知 G 力的能力和对负载与角度之间关系的了解来评估倾斜角度。我们的目的是研究在离心机中进行空间定向训练是否可以改善倾斜角度的感知。16 名飞行员/飞行学员在完全黑暗的情况下，分别在真实协调转弯和缆车离心时，评估 30°和 60°的滚转角。在 3 周的恢复期后，重复了这些实验，在此期间，8 名受试者在离心机中进行了 9 次训练，包括关于滚转角与 G 力的反馈，以及指示所需角度的训练。在训练之前，受试者分别在飞机和离心机中感知到：60°转弯时为 37（17）°，38（14）°；30°转弯时为 19（12）°，20（10）°。训练提高了 60°转弯时的角度感知[60（7）°，55（10）°；≤0.04]，但没有提高 30°转弯时的角度感知[21（10）°，15（9）°；≥0.30]；训练效果在训练结束后 2 年内消失。未接受训练的受试者的评估结果没有变化。结果表明，在离心机中，有可能训练飞行员感知大但不离散到中等滚转角位移的能力。短暂的训练效果归因于感知和将 G 力转换为滚转角的能力提高，或者对半规管信号的依赖增加。空间定向障碍是航空中的一个主要问题。当在没有外部视觉线索的情况下进行协调转弯（例如在云层或黑暗中飞行）时，飞行员会低估飞机的倾斜角度，因为前庭系统提供不可靠的滚转角信息。本研究表明，在长臂离心机中，有可能训练飞行员感知大但不离散到中等滚转角位移的能力。
