NASA says, How zero gravity affects Brain!

NASA-funded researchers are studying brain structures and functions of the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to understand how brain changes in space and ways to deal with those changes. Problems pertaining to balance and perceptual illusions in microgravity have been experienced by the astronauts.

The NASA-funded study is examining changes in both brain structure and function and determining how long it takes to recover after returning from space. Researchers are using both behavioural assessments and brain imaging. The spatial memory test is also performed aboard the station, along with sensory motor adaptation tests and computerized exercises requiring them to move and think simultaneously.

Astronauts are tested shortly after arriving aboard the station, mid-way through and near the end of a six-month flight. Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brain are done pre-flight and post-flight.

The study results could also show whether astronauts return to "normal" post-flight because the brain changes back, or if the brain instead learns to compensate for the changes that happened in space.