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Fiscal Year: FY 2010  Task Last Updated:  05/12/2010 
PI Name: Dinges, David F. 
Project Title: Objective Monitoring of Crew Neurobehavioral Functions (105-day Russian Chamber Study) 
   
Division Name: Human Research 
Program/Discipline: NSBRI 
Element/Subdiscipline: Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors Team 
Joint Agency Name:  
Human Research Program Elements: (1) BHP:Behavioral Health & Performance
Human Research Program Risks:: (1) Bmed:Risk of Behavioral and Psychiatric Conditions
Human Research Program Gaps: (1) BHP Gap Team02:What are the most optimal ways to monitor and measure crew cohesion, crew performance, and crew-ground interaction for exploration missions? (Priority 1)
(2) BMed03:What are the optimal methods to detect and assess decrements in behavioral health (which may negatively affect performance) during exploration missions?
PI Email: dinges@mail.med.upenn.edu  Fax:  215-573-6410 
PI Organization Type: UNIVERSITY  Phone: 215-898-9949  
Organization Name: University of Pennsylvania 
PI Address 1: Unit for Experimental Psychiatry 
PI Address 2: 423 Guardian Drive 
PI Web Page:  
City: Philadelphia  State: PA 
Zip Code: 19104-4209  Congressional District: 
Comments:  
Project Type: GROUND  Solicitation:  Directed Research 
Start Date: 02/01/2009  End Date:  01/31/2011 
No. of Post Docs: No. of PhD Degrees: 
No. of PhD Candidates: No. of Master' Degrees: 
No. of Master's Candidates: No. of Bachelor's Degrees: 
No. of Bachelor's Candidates: Monitoring Center:  NSBRI 
Contact Monitor:   Contact Phone:   
Contact Email:  
Flight Program:  
Flight Assignment:

 

Key Personnel Changes/Previous PI:  
COI Name (Institution): Metaxas, Dimitris  ( Rutgers University ) 
Grant/Contract No.: NCC 9-58-NBPF00004 
Performance Goal No.:  
Performance Goal Text:

 

Task Description: This project deployed 2 objective neurobehavioral monitoring techniques (psychomotor vigilance test (PVT); facial video for optical computer recognition (OCR)) and 2 mood scales (Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)) in the 105-day Russian chamber study at IBMP. The aims were to evaluate the feasibility of obtaining facial video for OCR of mood and fatigue, using cameras on the PVT computers, and evaluate whether PVT Self Test performance would covary with performance metrics from the 10-min. PVT and the 20-min. WinSCAT. Findings to date have focused on determining the degree of complete data from the 6 crewmembers and the 18 mission controllers. Crewmembers completed 88% of the scheduled PVT tests, 100% of the PANAS scales, and 94% of the BDI inventories. Facial video were available on all 1,104 PVTs - due to shadowing of the face, OCR was feasible on 11% of the videos. Comparable rates of data acquisition occurred for the mission controllers.

 

Research Impact/Earth Benefits: The 3-minute PVT Self Test used in the 105-day chamber study is being developed to help people quickly and objectively detect the extent to which fatigue is affecting their alertness and reaction times. As such, the technology has high potential for usefulness in a range of safety-sensitive environments on Earth. Potentially any occupation in which alertness and fatigue management are essential to prevent errors on critical tasks will benefit from adaptations of the PVT Self Test technology (e.g., airport security screeners, physicians on night shifts and prolonged call, etc.).

The automated optical computer recognition (OCR) technology being developed for objective monitoring and management of stress, negative emotional states and fatigue in space flight has applications for many Earth-based safety-sensitive occupations, such as transportation workers (e.g., truck drivers, train conductors, airline pilots); operators in safety-sensitive industries (e.g., power plant control rooms); and military personnel.

 

Task Progress: A total of 1,104 10-minute Psychomotor Vigilance Tasks (PVT) and 1,104 3-minute PVTs (PVT Self test) were acquired from the 6 crewmembers over the course of the 105-day chamber confinement. All 2,208 PVT test bouts completed have been extracted and reduced to key outcome variables. The 18 mission controllers completed 978 10-minute and 978 3-minute PVT trials, which have been extracted and reduced to key outcome variables. A total of 1,129 facial videos (acquired from the six crewmembers during the 3-minute PVTs) were evaluated for feasibility of analysis by optical computer recognition (OCR). A total of 1,010 facial videos (acquired from the 18 mission controllers during the 3-minute PVTs) also were evaluated for feasibility of analysis by optical computer recognition (OCR).

The crew and mission controllers completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and the Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows (WINSCAT). A total of 85 scheduled BDI questionnaires and 26 unscheduled BDI questionnaires were acquired from the crew (totaling 111 BDIs), all of which have been extracted and reduced. A total of 135 BDI questionnaires were acquired from mission controllers and are being extracted. A total of 48 scheduled PANAS questionnaires and 60 additional PANAS questionnaires were acquired from the crew (totaling 108 PANAS), all of which have been extracted and reduced. A total of 156 PANAS questionnaires were acquired from mission controllers and are being extracted.

A total of 19 scheduled WinSCAT bouts were acquired from the crewmembers; all of which have been extracted and reduced. Mission controllers were not requested to perform the WinSCAT due to operational constraints.

 

Bibliography Type: Description: (Last Updated: 06/02/2010) Show Cumulative Bibliography Listing
 
Awards Dinges DF. "Raymond F. Longacre Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in the Psychological and Psychiatric Aspects of Aerospace Medicine, May 2009." May-2009
 
Fiscal Year: FY 2009  Task Last Updated:  08/18/2009 
PI Name: Dinges, David F. 
Project Title: Objective Monitoring of Crew Neurobehavioral Functions (105-day Russian Chamber Study) 
   
Division Name: Human Research 
Program/Discipline: NSBRI 
Element/Subdiscipline: Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors Team 
Joint Agency Name:  
Human Research Program Elements: (1) BHP:Behavioral Health & Performance
Human Research Program Risks:: (1) Bmed:Risk of Behavioral and Psychiatric Conditions
Human Research Program Gaps: (1) BHP Gap Team02:What are the most optimal ways to monitor and measure crew cohesion, crew performance, and crew-ground interaction for exploration missions? (Priority 1)
(2) BMed03:What are the optimal methods to detect and assess decrements in behavioral health (which may negatively affect performance) during exploration missions?
PI Email: dinges@mail.med.upenn.edu  Fax:  215-573-6410 
PI Organization Type: UNIVERSITY  Phone: 215-898-9949  
Organization Name: University of Pennsylvania 
PI Address 1: Unit for Experimental Psychiatry 
PI Address 2: 423 Guardian Drive 
PI Web Page:  
City: Philadelphia  State: PA 
Zip Code: 19104-4209  Congressional District: 
Comments:  
Project Type: GROUND  Solicitation:  Directed Research 
Start Date: 02/01/2009  End Date:  01/31/2011 
No. of Post Docs:   No. of PhD Degrees:   
No. of PhD Candidates:   No. of Master' Degrees:   
No. of Master's Candidates:   No. of Bachelor's Degrees:   
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:   Monitoring Center:  NSBRI 
Contact Monitor:   Contact Phone:   
Contact Email:  
Flight Program:  
Flight Assignment:

 

Key Personnel Changes/Previous PI:  
COI Name (Institution): Metaxas, Dimitris  ( Rutgers University )
Mollicone, Daniel  ( Pulsar Informatics, Inc. ) 
Grant/Contract No.: NCC 9-58-NBPF00004 
Performance Goal No.:  
Performance Goal Text:

 

Task Description: In isolated environments, crews must maintain vigilance, wakefulness and teamwork to ensure safe and successful outcomes. Cosmonauts and astronauts on long-duration missions will endure the isolation and confinement of the space environment to a greater degree than previous travelers. To successfully carry out critical tasks during missions, crews must maintain a high level of performance fitness while faced with demanding workload and work schedules. Crews may also experience extreme environmental risks, operational emergencies, and a range of psychosocial stressors (e.g., isolation, confinement, separation from family).

Data from MIR, shuttle missions, International Space Station and early lunar missions have documented that human neurobehavioral deficits involving cognitive, emotional and physiological stress-related reactions have been commonly experienced in spaceflight.

During the 105-day experiment, this project will test two novel, unobtrusive, objective methods for monitoring stress-related performance deficits during spaceflights. The techniques used for monitoring are computer based and would be easy to use in a spacecraft or planetary outpost.

The testing and continued development of these technologies to identify stress- and fatigue-related problems in astronauts will facilitate timely assessment and interventions that could significantly mitigate risks related to performance deficits.

Monitoring Techniques Utilized

1. Reading the Face - Optical Computer Recognition (OCR) of Facial Expressions - Unobtrusive video monitoring of crew members and mission control personnel during brief cognitive tests, to detect the presence of stress, fatigue and negative affect.

The optical computer recognition (computer vision) technique will be tested for its ability to unobtrusively and automatically track an individual crew member's facial expressions during spaceflight. The OCR technique being developed is the result of a collaboration between the laboratory of Dr. Dinges (expertise in the evaluation of behavioral and physiological responses to stress, fatigue and affect) and the Computational Biomedicine Imaging and Modeling Center of Dr. Dimitris Metaxas at Rutgers University (expertise in optical tracking of human expressions and gestures). The OCR system has been developed over the past 7 years in laboratory experiments in 109 healthy adult men and women of different ethnicities undergoing varying degrees of workload-based behavioral stressors with and without sleep loss.

A camera tracks the shape and movements of the face in three dimensions, continuously reading expressions of stress, emotion and fatigue. Throughout the 105-day experiment, facial video of the crew and mission control personnel will be acquired for brief periods each day during cognitive performance testing on a specially programmed laptop computer provided to each crew member. The video will be evaluated to determine the extent to which stress, fatigue and negative affect developed during the mission.

Through use of this data and further development, OCR will be designed to provide real-time feedback on the degree of stress, fatigue and negative affect it detects over time in spaceflight, so crews can determine when to apply countermeasures/interventions during prolonged missions.

2. Psychomotor Vigilance Testing (PVT Self Test) - A cognitive test to detect changes in basic neurobehavioral performance involving attention, response speed and impulsivity. The PVT, developed by Dr. Dinges, has been extensively validated for its ability to detect cognitive deficits caused by a variety of factors in spaceflight (e.g., restricted sleep, rapid change in work shifts, motion sickness, and residual sedation from sleep medications). The standard PVT takes 10 minutes; however a 3-minute PVT Self Test has been developed by Dr. Dinges and optimized for use by astronauts. The PVT can determine the extent to which fatigue has altered nervous system speed and accuracy relative to sustained attention. The test requires the user to watch for a visual signal and respond quickly and accurately when it appears. Unaffected by aptitude or practice, the PVT will ultimately be used to inform the user of the need for fatigue countermeasures.

During the 105-Day experiment, the crew members and mission control personnel will take both the 10-minute and 3-minute PVT Self Tests twice daily from laptop computers provided to each participant. Testing will occur during periods of day and night work.

Anticipated Results

The OCR and PVT results from this simulation study will yield important data on alertness, stress, fatigue and negative affect throughout the 105-day experiment. In addition to their utility in spaceflight, the methods used for monitoring stress and fatigue have wide applicability for use in a range of military and civilian operational environments.

 

Research Impact/Earth Benefits: 0

 

Task Progress: New project for FY2009.

 

Bibliography Type: Description: (Last Updated: 06/02/2010) Show Cumulative Bibliography Listing
 
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