Yahoo News Zero gravity ‘has weird effects on the way we make decisions’, scientists warn
Going into space could have strange effects on our minds, a new experiment has suggested – and it could have implications for future missions beyond our planet.
Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London say that gravity seems to affect people’s ability to come up with random numbers.
Researchers asked volunteers to shout out random numbers, both while standing up and lying down (hence affected in a different way by gravity)..
The rsearchers found that there was a significant difference in people’s ability to shout out random numbers – hinting that gravity has a powerful effect on our minds.
Maria Gallagher explained: ‘We found decreased randomness in the sequence of numbers when participants were laying down: participants started to repeat the same number they shouted out before and the random choices they made almost ceased.’
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Dr Elisa Ferre said: ‘With the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Landing, we are getting ever closer to the new space age we have all imagined, which is very exciting.
‘However, whilst the physical training and incredible equipment is given to astronauts, research in decision-making when we’re away from terrestrial gravity is little known, and our findings show that altered gravity might affect the way in which we make decision.
‘This is incredibly important and we need to fix this.
‘With the prospect of people going up into space, whether as a trained astronaut or in the near future, civilian passengers, it can take few minutes for any transition messages to get from the spacecraft to Houston, so being able to make decisions promptly, concisely and on-the-spot without any outside help, is of paramount importance.’
