space and motor adaptation research
What happens to our brains in space?
While at the University of Florida, I worked with Rachael D. Seidler as part of a large NASA grant under NASA’s Human Research Program (HRP). I followed a cohort of astronauts before and after they returned from space aboard the International Space Station (ISS). In my work, I was interested in investigating how astronaut brains change both structurally and functionally during spaceflight.
For more information about this work, click below.
How do we learn and adapt new motor skills?
As a secondary project, I was also interested in understanding the mechanisms of human motor skill learning, i.e., how do we learn how to ride a bike? How can I learn how to play a video game on one game controller and transfer and adapt my previously learned motor skills to a new controller or device?
Here, I studied the conscious (explicit) and unconscious (implicit) strategies people use when learning and adapting new motor skills.
This work culminated in my masters thesis, where I investigated behavioral changes, such as sensorimotor processing and adaptation, in response to head-down tilt bed rest — an analog that simulates a spaceflight environment (e.g., the International Space Station).
Selected Publications and Presentations
Salazar A. P., Hupfeld, K. E., Lee, J. K, Banker, L. A., Tays, G, D., Beltran, N. E., Kofman, I.S., De Dios, Y. E., Mulder, E., Bloomberg, J. J., Mulavara, A. P., & Seidler, R. D. Visuomotor adapation brain changes during a spaceflight analog with elevated carbon dioxide (CO2): A pilot study. 2021. Frontiers in Neural Circuits (link).
Banker, L. A., Salazar A. P., Lee, J. K, Beltran, N. E., Kofman, I.S., De Dios, Y. E., Mulder, E., Bloomberg, J. J., Mulavara, A. P., & Seidler, R. D. (2020). The effects of a spaceflight analog with elevated CO2 on sensorimotor adaptation. Journal of Neurophysiology. (link).
Banker, L. A., Lee, J. K., Gadd, N., Kofman, I. S., De Dios, Y. E., Bloomberg, J. J., Mulavara, A. P., & Seidler, R. D. (2019). Neural correlates of sensorimotor adaptation in a spaceflight analogue environment. Poster presented at the Society for the Neural Control of Movement Annual Meeting, Toyama, Japan, April 2019.
Banker, L. A., Lee, J. K., Gadd, N., Kofman, I. S., De Dios, Y. E., Bloomberg, J. J., Mulavara, A. P., & Seidler, R. D. (2019). Sensorimotor adaptation changes during elevated CO2 head-down tilt bedrest. Poster presented at NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop (HRP IWS), Galveston, TX, January 2019.
Banker, L. A., Bennett, K. A., Koppelmans, V., Riascos-Castaneda, R. F., Gadd, N. E., Kofman, I., De Dios, Y. E., Bloomberg, J. J., Mulavara, A. P., & Seidler, R. D. (2018). Neural and behavioral sensorimotor adaptation changes in astronauts during spaceflight. Poster presented at the Society for the Neural Control of Movement meeting, Santa Fe, NM, May 2018.