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Lack of reliability in the disruption of cognitive performance following exposure to protons

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Abstract

A series of three replications were run to determine the reliability with which exposure to protons produces a disruption of cognitive performance, using a novel object recognition task and operant responding on an ascending fixed-ratio task. For the first two replications, rats were exposed to head-only exposures to 1000 MeV/n protons at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory. For the third replication, subjects were given head-only or whole-body exposures to both 1000 and 150 MeV/n protons. The results were characterized by a lack of consistency in the effects of exposure to protons on the performance of these cognitive tasks, both within and between replications. The factors that might influence the lack of consistency and the implications for exploratory class missions are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The research reported here was carried out under National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grants NNJ06HD93G, NNX08AM66G and NNX13AB73G.

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There is no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, UMBC, Baltimore, MD, 21250, USA

    Bernard M. Rabin, Nicholas A. Heroux, Kirsty L. Carrihill-Knoll, Zachary Beck & Chelsea Baxter

  2. Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, USDA-ARS Tufts University, Boston, MA, 02111, USA

    Barbara Shukitt-Hale

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  1. Bernard M. Rabin
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  2. Nicholas A. Heroux
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  3. Barbara Shukitt-Hale
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  6. Chelsea Baxter
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Correspondence to Bernard M. Rabin.

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Rabin, B.M., Heroux, N.A., Shukitt-Hale, B. et al. Lack of reliability in the disruption of cognitive performance following exposure to protons. Radiat Environ Biophys 54, 285–295 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-015-0597-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-015-0597-2

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