SYMPTOMATOLOGY DURING PROLONGED EXPOSURE IN A CONSTANTLY ROTATING ENVIRONMENT AT A VELOCITY OF ONE REVOLUTION PER MINUTE

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Abstract
Three experiments were carried out in which healthy men with a wide range in susceptibility to motion sickness and canal sickness were exposed to constant rotation at one RPM in a small closed room. The main object was to determine if the Coriolis accelerations generated by rotation of the head out of the plane of the room''s rotation were sufficient to give rise to symptoms regularly manifested at higher RPM. In the first experiment 4 subjects within the usual range of susceptibility to canal sickness were free of symptoms, and the only manifestation elicited was slight difficulty in walking heel-to-toe with eyes closed. In the 2nd experiment 2 subjects very susceptible to motion sickness and canal sickness were also free of symptoms during rotation except for moderate "apathy" after the initial dial test involving 100 experimenter-paced head movements. In the 3rd experiment 2 subjects with a lifelong history of motion sickness and extraordinarily high susceptibility to canal sickness, experienced mild symptoms which disappeared within a few hours. During the 1st series of experimenter-paced head movements both subjects noticed a slight increase in symptoms. By the 2nd series these had disappeared. Following cessation of rotation all subjects save 1 exhibited post-adaptation phenomena. The interest-ing observation was made that these phenomena may appear in the absence of any antecedent manifestation during rotation. This suggests, if it does not prove, that awareness of the effects of Coriolis stimulation on the part of the subject is not an essential factor in adaptation and that manifestations after cessation of Coriolis stimulation may be the first indication that adaptation had occurred. It is concluded that exposure under the conditions of this experiment to a constantly rotating environment at one RPM does not handicap the performance of persons with far greater than average susceptibility to canal sickness. This has direct application to rotating environments such as those which might be experienced in orbiting vehicles caused to spin as a means of generating an artificial field force.

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