How does life in space affect the cognitive performance of astronauts?

There was no cognitive impairment, but…

The most reassuring result was that, although life in orbit is undoubtedly stressful, no cognitive impairment was observed in the sample of astronauts studiedwithout changes in your ability to reason, learn or remember. Perhaps this is because six months is a limited amount of time, the researchers write, recalling that in the famous NASA twin study (when one went to space for a year and the other stayed at home) some signs of cognitive deterioration were observed after the experience. However, that It doesn’t mean something doesn’t change. and, in fact, researchers at the Behavioral Health and Performance Laboratory have identified some (small) effects attributable to being in orbit.

The only thing that is mentioned is a slowdown general in the performance of various tests of certain cognitive functionsat different times and for different durations. Something so far without consequences on the ability to perform tasks and to be expected, according to the authors, in line with the evidence collected in the past that speaks of a kind of “brain fog” spatial, and absolutely not the prerogative of Space. “Even on Earth, the processing speedthe working memory and the attention are cognitive domains that can show temporal changes when “you are under stress”he states Sheena Dev, first author of the work, “other domains, such as memory, are less vulnerable to stress. For example, when you have a busy day, but you didn’t get much sleep the night before, you may feel that you have trouble paying attention or that you need more time to complete tasks.. Another result worth mentioning for scientists is the variation in risk propensity observed during the different phases of the mission: lower at the end of the mission, higher at the beginning. While no particular associations were observed with hours of rest.

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However, despite the size of the sample, for similar studies, the information collected is nothing more than the basis for an even more in-depth investigation. If in fact, as the researchers themselves explain, they can be the starting point to understand what to judge as abnormal based on an initial condition of “normality” and in relation to the mission effectsin regards to the cognitive functionsthere are many factors to take into account before having a clear enough picture of the effects of being in space on the psyche. First of all, it would be desirable to have data on longer missionsbut not only that. In fact, several aspects remain to be investigated, such as The impact of workload, physical activity and diet on cognitive performance. The last part of the research in this field should also be dedicated to understanding whether the observed variations can influence the health, lifespan and performance of the astronauts in different tasks in orbitand in what way.

Article originally published in WIRED Italy. Adapted by Amira Saim.