RT Journal Article
T1 Persistent deterioration of visuospatial performance in spaceflight
A1 Takács, Endre
A1 Barkaszi, Irén
A1 Czigler, István
A1 Pató, Lívia Gabriella
A1 Altbäcker, Anna
A1 McIntyre, Joseph
A1 Cheron, Guy
A1 Balázs, László
AB Although human adaptation to spaceflight has been studied for decades, little is known about its long-term effects on brain and behavior. The present study investigated visuospatial performance and associated electrophysiological responses in astronauts before, during, and after an approximately half-year long mission to the International Space Station. Here we report findings demonstrating that cognitive performance can suffer marked decrements during spaceflight. Astronauts were slower and more error-prone on orbit than on Earth, while event-related brain potentials reflected diminished attentional resources. Our study is the first to provide evidence for impaired performance during both the initial (~ 8 days) and later (~ 50 days) stages of spaceflight, without any signs of adaptation. Results indicate restricted adaptability to spaceflight conditions and calls for new research prior to deep space explorations.
SN 2045-2322
YR 2021
FD 2021-12
LA eng
NO Takács , E , Barkaszi , I , Czigler , I , Pató , L G , Altbäcker , A , McIntyre , J , Cheron , G & Balázs , L 2021 , ' Persistent deterioration of visuospatial performance in spaceflight ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 11 , no. 1 , 9590 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88938-6
NO Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).
NO The authors extend their appreciation to the astronauts who took part in the study for their enthusiastic effort, to ESA for making the study possible and to the staff at ESA Human Research Office, CADMOS and MEDES for their continuing support. This work was supported by ESA-PECS contract 4000103377/11/NL/KML to L.B.
DS TECNALIA Publications
RD 26 jul 2024