ArticleCognitive processing2021
Brains in space: the importance of understanding the impact of long-duration spaceflight on spatial cognition and its neural circuitry.
Article in Cognitive processing, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health effects of plants, light, and natural elements of biophilic interventions in confined settings: a systematic review.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Pooled it
- Using Organoids to Unlock the Potential of Human Torpor for Spaceflight.Current stem cell reports · 2026Article
- Review
- Galactic cosmic radiation produces sex-specific, circuit-selective cognitive vulnerability: countermeasure trade-offs revealed by multi-domain assessment.Research square · 2026Article
- Sensory Deprivation and the Brain: Neurobiological Mechanisms, Psychological Effects, and Clinical Implications.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Spaceflight Standard Measures is a multidisciplinary study that systematically monitors risks to astronaut health and performance.NPJ microgravity · 2025Review
- Article
- Hippocampal Volumetric Changes in Astronauts Following a Mission in the International Space Station.NeuroSci · 2025Article
- Transient gray matter decline during antarctic isolation: Roles of sleep, exercise, and cognition.NPJ microgravity · 2025Article
- Structural and functional changes in the hippocampus induced by environmental exposures.Neurosciences (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) · 2025Review
- Beyond the lab coat: methodological challenges in space life sciences.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Review
- "Monitoring inflammatory, immune system mediators, and mitochondrial changes related to brain metabolism during space flight".Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Neurocognitive Adaptations for Spatial Orientation and Navigation in Astronauts.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Paving the way to better understand the effects of prolonged spaceflight on operational performance and its neural bases.NPJ microgravity · 2023Review
- Changes in working memory brain activity and task-based connectivity after long-duration spaceflight.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- The Unresolved Methodological Challenge of Detecting Neuroplastic Changes in Astronauts.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Optimizing human performance in extreme environments through precision medicine: From spaceflight to high-performance operations on Earth.Cambridge prisms. Precision medicine · 2023Review
- Noise characteristics in spaceflight multichannel EEG.PloS one · 2023Article
- Changes in fear-associated learning task brain activation over the COVID-19 pandemic period: a preliminary longitudinal analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Rare diseases and space health: optimizing synergies from scientific questions to care.NPJ microgravity · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Fifty years after the first humans stepped on the Moon, space faring nations have entered a new era of space exploration. NASA's reference mission to Mars is expected to comprise 1100 days. Deep space exploratory class missions could even span decades. They will be the most challenging and dangerous expeditions in the history of human spaceflight and will expose crew members to unprecedented health and performance risks. The development of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders during those missions is considered a critical and unmitigated risk factor. Here, we argue that spatial cognition, i.e., the ability to encode representations about self-to-object relations and integrate this information into a spatial map of the environment, and their neural bases will be highly vulnerable during those expeditions. Empirical evidence from animal studies shows that social isolation, immobilization, and altered gravity can have profound effects on brain plasticity associated with spatial navigation. We provide examples from historic spaceflight missions, spaceflight analogs, and extreme environments suggesting that spatial cognition and its neural circuitry could be impaired during long-duration spaceflight, and identify recommendations and future steps to mitigate these risks.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.