NEUROACTISO (SIRIUS)

The proposed study will compare cognitive abilities of subjects participating in a four-month space analogue isolation study in Moscow (SIRIUS), with the application of daily (2 month intermittent, 2 month continuous) running exercise. We also propose recording brain electrical potentials (EEG/ERP) and sampling stress hormone and neurotrophic changes in regard to cognition and emotion/affect (cognitive tests, questionnaires). Brain imaging methods provide insight to the successive stages of information processing with excellent temporal precision as well as information on the brain areas affected. Cognitive tasks will be presented both in visual and auditory modality allowing investigating electro-cortical changes in relation to cognitive or affective impairments.

The project is supported by a scientific cooperation agreement of the German Space Agency (DLR) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) (50WB1813).