Research

Brain

  • Current Research
  • Previous Research

Overview

Development of a User Interface for the PVT SelfTest

Principal Investigator:
David F. Dinges, Ph.D.

Organization:
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

To complete mission operations and reduce safety risks, astronauts must maintain a high level of performance when working. Dr. David F. Dinges and colleagues have developed the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) Self Test that objectively measures an astronaut’s performance/fatigue level. Performance can be impacted by sleep loss, changing work shifts and other factors. The PVT Self Test was successfully tested during three NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) missions.

The objective of this project was to develop an interface in a Windows format that would provide feedback about the PVT Self Test results to the user. The PVT Self Test data transferred through the interface will aid astronauts in making decisions about implementing countermeasures for fatigue. The PVT Self Test and interface developed in this project are scheduled to be tested on future International Space Station expeditions.

The PVT Self Test and interface will have applications for mission support personnel and non-NASA occupations that have high safety risks.

NASA Taskbook Entry

Technical Summary

Space operations require that astronauts maintain the highest level of performance capability throughout their missions to mitigate risk in what is a high-risk operational environment. A brief sensitive objective self-test of performance fitness for duty is needed to inform astronauts of their performance fitness and need for countermeasures.

Dr. David F. Dinges developed a Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) that has been validated to detect cognitive deficits caused by a variety of factors in spaceflight (e.g., sleep loss, sleep shifts, motion sickness). The PVT is optimized for repeated use, because it is free of learning effects and aptitude differences that plague other cognitive measures. Dr. Dinges used the ten-minute PVT to develop a specially programmed three-minute PVT SelfTest and validated it to be as sensitive as the 10-min PVT to total sleep loss, based on optimization algorithms. The three-minute PVT SelfTest has been deployed in three NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) missions (9, 12 and 13) and was found to be acceptable to astronauts and sensitive to their activity demands. However, the PVT SelfTest used in NEEMO did not have an interface that informed astronauts of their performance relative to their own behavioral norms.

This project seeks to develop the PVT SelfTest user interface to immediately inform astronauts (post-test) of their performance fitness and need for countermeasures.

Specific Aims

  1. Use PVT SelfTest data acquired in NEEMO 9, 12 and 13 to develop astronaut performance norms, and compare this data to other experimental and clinical research norms from large scale studies Dr. Dinges has performed for the National Institutes of Health, Air Force Office of Scientific Research and NASA to set parameter limits for information feedback via the user interface;

  2. Create quality control parameters to certify a PVT SelfTest trial is valid;

  3. Determine if different options are required for data interpretive display of performance on the PVT SelfTest; and

  4. Computer program the results of Aims 1-3 into the current Windows PVT SelfTest architecture.

The result of project work is a performance feedback interface to augment the brief, validated, zero upmass, performance test to provide astronauts with immediate feedback about cognitive deficits by displaying information about impulsivity, lapsing of attention, reaction speed, overall performance capability and test compliance. The PVT SelfTest has the potential to yield an objective, practical method to inform astronauts about performance changes to aid in the selection of appropriate fatigue countermeasures. The PVT SelfTest with the performance feedback interface developed in this project has been approved for a flight experiment beginning with International Space Station Expeditions 21-22.

Earth Applications

The primary aim of this project was to develop a brief, validated, performance feedback interface to provide astronauts with immediate feedback about cognitive deficits caused by sleep loss, sleep shifts, medication use and other factors that may degrade performance. These factors are present during Earth-based operations by astronauts. The Psychomotor Vigilance Test SelfTest may provide astronauts with a useful performance monitoring tool to aid in the selection of fatigue countermeasures during training and mission preparation, especially when operations include sleep loss, night work and travel to Russia. Additionally, the PVT SelfTest can be adapted to provide Mission Control personnel with a tool to provide individualized performance capability feedback during continuous mission support operations by establishing appropriate normative data representative of mission controllers.
This project's funding ended in 2008