Abstract
In this study we could clearly show that microgravity and hyper gravity respectively lead to a neuromodulation in the cerebral cortex of humans. This implies different excitability of the neuronal networks and different arousal states of the subjects that might involve different states of attention and focus and therefore different mental and motor performance skills. Unfortunately the brain is characterized by all properties of complex system and therefore the processes at every level are chaotic, unstable and non-linear and unpredictable. Especially in our results with the slow cortical potentials this is expressed in the reaction of the brain to the altered gravity stimuli, where the polarity of the DC shifts to depend on each individual brain of the different subjects. Concerning the ambitions that brain machine interfaces are prospected for space system control, further research is essential about how the brain is influenced by microgravity conditions. Furthermore this study as a logical continuation of the above chapters shows that the fragmentation of complex systems in sub-systems that is conventionally used in biological research is very useful for the clarification of the underlying mechanisms but should always be verified in the whole system at best under the same experimental conditions.
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© 2011 Higher Education Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Wiedemann, M., Kohn, F.P.M., Roesner, H., Hanke, W.R.L. (2011). The Brain Itself in Zero-g . In: Self-organization and Pattern-formation in Neuronal Systems Under Conditions of Variable Gravity. Nonlinear Physical Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14472-1_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14472-1_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14471-4
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