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Gender specific changes in cortical activation patterns during exposure to artificial gravity
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Gender specific changes in cortical activation patterns during exposure to artificial gravity

Stefan Schneider, Ryan Robinson, Craig Smith, Melanie Von Der Wiesche and Nandu Goswami
Acta Astronautica, Vol.104(1), pp.438-443
2014
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Accepted VersionPDF - Author Accepted Version (Open Access)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0 Open Access
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2014.03.003View
Published Version

Abstract

EEG artificial gravity exercise brain cortical activity alpha activity gender
Keeping astronauts healthy during long duration spaceflight remains a challenge. Artificial gravity (AG) generated by a short arm human centrifuges (SAHC) is proposed as the next generation of integrated countermeasure devices that will allow human beings to safely spend extended durations in space, although comparatively little is known about any psychological side effects of AG on brain function. 16 participants (8 male and 8 female, GENDER) were exposed to 10 minutes at a baseline gravitational load (G-Load) of +0.03 Gz, then 10 minutes at +0.6 Gz for females and +0.8 Gz for males, before being exposed to increasing levels of AG in a stepped manner by increasing the acceleration by +0.1 Gz every 3 minutes until showing signs of pre-syncope. EEG recordings were taken of brain activity during 2 minute time periods at each AG level. Analysing the results of the mixed total population of participants by two way ANOVA, a significant effect of centrifugation on alpha and beta activity was found (p less than .01). Furthermore results revealed a significant interaction between G-LOAD and GENDER alpha-activity (p less than .01), but not for beta-activity. Although the increase in alpha and beta activity with G-LOAD does not reflect a general model of cortical arousal and therefore can not support previous findings reporting that AG may be a cognitively arousing environment, the gender specific responses identified in this study may have wider implications for EEG and AG research.

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