Abstract
SECTIONS I (Physiology) and J (Psychology) of the British Association discussed on September 7 at a joint meeting the problems of disorientation and vertigo. Dr. J. T. MacCurdy (Cambridge) was the first speaker. He said that the most universal type of physiological orientation is the reaction to gravity. When the effective value of g is varied, there is an increase or decrease in the tension of the muscles which withstand the drag. When the direction of g is changed, there are reflex movements of the trunks and limbs which re-orient the body to g, the so-called righting reflexes. Any disturbance of these balancing reactions would upset the bodily orientation, if there were no accessory means of judging the direction of g. Such a means exists in vision.
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Disorientation and Vertigo. Nature 133, 34–35 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133034a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133034a0