Cognition experiment during parabolic flight

Over 50 volunteers used a computer simulation in 3D to find a virtual gold coin inside a maze following visual clues. The tricky part is that they only had 20 seconds to do it – in weightlessness.

ESA and France’s space agency CNES have taken the challenge onboard the Zero-G plane, an aircraft operated by Novespace in Bordeaux, France. During the parabolic flight, participants had to find the reward as fast as possible.

The game allows scientists to explore cognitive functions in more detail. Saliva and blood samples were also taken to quantify the level of stress during the task.

Preliminary results show that there is a significant deficit in spatial memory, and first-time flyers found it more difficult to orientate themselves in the maze compared to those who had experienced microgravity in the past.