Persistent deterioration of visuospatial performance in spaceflight

Abstract

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.

Are head-down tilt bedrest studies capturing the true nature of spaceflight-induced cognitive changes? A review

“…In this task, subjects are either instructed to compare or align the orientation of the actual line(s) with the earlier presented one. Takács et al (2021) found significantly poorer performance in 5 astronauts during both the earlier (∼1.5 weeks) and later (∼1.5–2 months) stages of a half-year-long flight and even 2–8 days after return. ERP indicators showed changes similar to the behavioral data (reduced P3a and P3b amplitude), with the difference that while behavioral measures did return to pre-flight levels 2–3 weeks after landing, the ERP amplitudes did not.…”

“…The effect of spaceflight and HDBR on spatial working memory was tested with the following tasks: the Line orientation memory task, the Array match to sample and Grid match to sample tasks, the Spatial location task. Regarding space, performance in the Line orientation memory task was investigated in a case study of a 6-day-long space mission ( Benke et al, 1993a ; Benke et al, 1993b ) and in 2 half-year-long space missions ( McIntyre et al, 2001 ; Takács et al, 2021 ). In this task, subjects are either instructed to compare or align the orientation of the actual line(s) with the earlier presented one.…”

“…For 1 or 2-week long shuttle flights, the first in-flight measurements were often performed only a few hours after take-off (e.g., Bock et al, 2001 ). In long-duration space missions, the timeframe for the earliest in-flight measurements points varied between 4–12 days (e.g., Takács et al, 2021 ) to even 1 month or beyond after take-off (e.g., Tays et al, 2021 ), while some studies had no in-flight measurements at all (e.g., Moore et al, 2019 ). Regarding HDBR, the first in-HDBR measurements were either scheduled at the first 1–2 days (e.g., Basner et al, 2021 ), after the first week (e.g., Yuan et al, 2016 ), or rarely even after a month in-HDBR ( Tays et al, 2022 ).…”

Brain potential responses involved in decision-making in weightlessness

“…Previous findings have reported significant slower and more error visuospatial performance on-orbit than on Earth which was accompanied by event-related brain potentials modifications reflecting diminished attentional resources 35 . Our present results could not provide a demonstration of significant deterioration of the performance of the virtual docking.…”

Monitoring the Impact of Spaceflight on the Human Brain

“…The "NEUROSPAT" project has demonstrated the potential of this technology on the ISS (Figure 1). It has confirmed changes in visuo-attentional activity, visuospatial performance, brain activity, and effects of space travel on sleep quantity [28][29][30][31]. EEG has also been used in space to measure changes in neurocognitive performance and brain activity that result from exposure to microgravity and isolation [27].…”