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Experiment/Payload Overview

Information provided courtesy of the Erasmus Experiment Archive.
Brief Summary

Effect of Gravitational Context on EEG Dynamics: A Study of Spatial Cognition, Novelty Processing and Sensorimotor Integration (Neurospat) tests prefrontal brain functions and spatial cognition to determine the effect of gravitational context on brain processing.

Principal Investigator

Guy Cheron, , Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, , Belgium

L. Balazs, , Institute for Psychology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, , Hungary

Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

A. Bengoetxea, , Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, , Belgium

A. Berthoz, LPPA/CNRS, College de France, Paris, , France

A. Cebolla, , , , , Belgium

C. de sadeleer, , Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, , Belgium

E. Nagy, , , , ,

G. Karmos, , , , ,

I. Czigler, , , , ,

J. Achimowicz, , , , ,

M. Molnar, , , , ,

Payload Developer
Information Pending

Sponsoring Space Agency

European Space Agency (ESA)

Sponsoring Organization:

Information Pending

ISS Expedition Duration:

March 2009 - September 2012

Expeditions Assigned

19/20, 25/26, 29/30, 31/32

Previous ISS Missions

Neurospat was first operated on ISS Expedition 19/20.

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Experiment/Payload Description

Research Summary

• Effect of Gravitational Context on EEG Dynamics: A Study of Spatial Cognition, Novelty Processing and Sensorimotor Integration (Neurospat) is composed of two principal experimental tasks: Visual Orientation and Visuomotor Tracking, plus additional, standardized electroencephalogram (EEG) tasks performed as a means of assessing general effects of the space station environment on EEG signals.

Description

Neurospat will use physiological and behavioral measures to assess both the changes in general activation, prefrontal brain function and perceptual reorganization. Indices of electroencephalogram (EEG), event related brain potentials (ERP), reaction time and errors will be measured in a spatial orientation task. The stimulus set will also contain task irrelevant novel visual stimuli to allow assessment of electrophysiological correlates of novelty processing.

Effect of gravitational context on brain processing: A study of sensorimotor integration using event related EEG dynamics. In this project the purpose is to study brain activity that underlies cognitive processes involved in four different tasks that humans and astronauts may encounter on a daily basis:

• visuomotor tracking


• perception of self-orientation


• 3D navigation


• discrimination of objects orientation

These tasks are designed to evoke adapted responses of the sensorimotorsystem in the presence or absence of gravity. For each paradigm the involvement of five cognitive processes will be examined: perception, attention, memorization, decision and action. The roles played by gravity on these neural processes will be analyzed by measuring evoked potentials and EEG dynamics methods during virtual reality stimulation.

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Applications

Space Applications

Information Pending

Earth Applications

Information Pending

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Operations

Operational Requirements

Five long-term subjects are required to complete Neurospat. This experiment is to be performed in a relatively calm environment; i.e. without major activities going on in the same module.

Operational Protocols

Information Pending

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Results/More Information

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Related Web Sites

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Publications

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Ground Based Results Publications

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ISS Patent Publications

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Related Publications

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Images

Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk gives his crew mate Frank De Winne a helping hand with the European Space Agency experiment NeuroSpat.

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