Sensory Motor and Behavioral Research in Space

This volume of the series SpringerBriefs in Space Life Sciences describes findings from space and accompanying ground research related to spatial orientation, posture and locomotion, cognition and psychomotor function.

The results are not only of importance to health and performance of astronauts during their space mission, but also impact people on Earth, especially in the ageing societies of the Western countries.

The space environment produces mismatches between sensory inputs from canal and otolith afferents which are difficult to study in humans, and are therefore studied in the fish model. Brain and vestibular organ of fish are analyzed under altered gravitational conditions; particularly weightlessness and structural failures as well as malfunctions in different inner ear components are investigated and discussed.

The book is aiming at students, engineers and scientists in space and aging research, as well as psychology, neurosciences and sensory motor research.

Reinhard Hilbig is retired professor of Zoology at the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. He took examination Philosophicum at the Westfaliche Wilhems University in Munster and completes his Staatsexamen and PhD at the University of Hohenheim. Reinhard Hilbig got his "venia legendi" for Zoology from the University of Hohenheim. His research was addressed to developmental neuroscience especially to the inner ear of lower vertebrates (fish) and its malformations, biomineralization, behavior and as well to spatial orientation in different gravitational environments. He had served as principal investigator in two space flight experiments and several parabolic flight and sounding rocket campaigns.

Prof. Dr. Albert Gollhofer is the director of the department of Sports and Sportscience at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg, Germany. He studied Physics and physical education in Freiburg and his research is focused on neuromuscular control and functional adaptations to training. During his scientific career at the University in Stuttgart and in Freiburg he supervised a large number of phD students in physical education. He served as a president of the European College of Sport Science and of the German Society of Biomechanics and published more than 180 international papers and several books on biomechanics, motor control and learning.

Otmar Bock is Professor of Physiology at the German Sport University in Koln. He completed his medical exam and his medical PhD thesis at the University of Hamburg, and wrote his habilitation thesis at the University of Dusseldorf where he also received his venia legendi in Biophysics.His research deals with human sesnorimotor coordination and its cognitive underpinning in healthy young persons under conditions of normal and changed gravity, as well as in healthy older adults and in neurological patients.

Dietrich Manzey is professor of Work, Engineering and Organisational Psychology at Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany. He completed his Diploma and PhD in Psychology at University of Kiel, Germany, and got his habilitation from the University of Marburg, Germany. His research has addressed human performance in extreme environments, especially spaceflight. He has served as principal investigator of three spaceflight experiments investigating cognitive and psychomotor performance of astronauts. Other interests include human-automation interaction, multitasking, and cockpit display design. Dietrich has served as president of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) Europe Chapter, is an elected fellow of the HFES, and elected member of the International Academy of Astronautics.