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Project Title:  Personalized Performance Optimization Platform (P-POP) Reduce
Fiscal Year: FY 2024 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
HRP HFBP:Human Factors & Behavioral Performance (IRP Rev H)
Start Date: 02/23/2021  
End Date: 02/22/2025  
Task Last Updated: 01/11/2024 
Download report in PDF pdf
Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Strangman, Gary E Ph.D. / Massachusetts General Hospital 
Address:  Department of Psychiatry 
149 13th Street, Suite 2651 
Charlestown , MA 02129-2020 
Email: strang@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu 
Phone: 617-724-0662  
Congressional District:
Web:  
Organization Type: NON-PROFIT 
Organization Name: Massachusetts General Hospital 
Joint Agency:  
Comments:  
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
Ivkovic, Vladimir  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Stankovic, Aleksandra  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Zhang, Quan  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Maes, Patricia  Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Kosmyna, Nataliya  Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Project Information: Grant/Contract No. 80NSSC21K0669 
Responsible Center: NASA JSC 
Grant Monitor: Whitmire, Alexandra  
Center Contact:  
alexandra.m.whitmire@nasa.gov 
Unique ID: 14430 
Solicitation / Funding Source: 2019-2020 HERO 80JSC019N0001-HHCBPSR, OMNIBUS2: Human Health Countermeasures, Behavioral Performance, and Space Radiation-Appendix C; Omnibus2-Appendix D 
Grant/Contract No.: 80NSSC21K0669 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: Yes 
No. of Post Docs:
No. of PhD Candidates:  
No. of Master's Candidates:  
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:  
No. of PhD Degrees:  
No. of Master's Degrees:  
No. of Bachelor's Degrees:  
Human Research Program Elements: (1) HFBP:Human Factors & Behavioral Performance (IRP Rev H)
Human Research Program Risks: (1) BMed:Risk of Adverse Cognitive or Behavioral Conditions and Psychiatric Disorders
(2) Team:Risk of Performance and Behavioral Health Decrements Due to Inadequate Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, and Psychosocial Adaptation within a Team
Human Research Program Gaps: (1) BMed-102:Given exposures to spaceflight hazards (space radiation, isolation), how do we identify individual susceptibility, monitor molecular/biomarkers and acceptable thresholds, and validate behavioral health and CNS/neurological/neuropsychological performance measures and domains of relevance to exploration class missions?
(2) BMed-103:What are the validated, efficacious treatments (individual or Team-based) and/or countermeasures to prevent adverse behavioral conditions, CNS/neurological, and/or psychiatric disorders caused by either single and/or integrated exposures to spaceflight hazards during exploration class missions?
(3) BMed-105:Given the potentially negative spaceflight associated CNS/cognitive changes and behavioral experiences of stressors during long-duration missions (e.g., isolation, confinement, reduced sensory stimulation, altered gravity, space radiation), what are validated medical or dietary countermeasures to mitigate stressors impacting on CNS / cognition / behavioral health?
(4) Team-103:We need to identify psychological and psychosocial factors, measures, and combinations thereof for use in selecting individuals and composing highly effective crews most likely to maintain team function during shifting autonomy in increasingly earth independent, long duration exploration missions.
(5) Team-105:We need to identify a set of countermeasures to support team function and enable multiple distributed teams to manage shifting levels of autonomy for all phases of increasingly earth independent, long duration exploration missions.
Task Description: BACKGROUND: The environmental conditions of prolonged spaceflight pose significant psychological risks for astronauts. In particular, long duration exposure to an isolated and confined environment can contribute to adverse cognitive or behavioral events and compromise mission safety and/or success. In order to mitigate against mission-related disruptions arising from decrements in behavioral health and performance, NASA needs a set of validated strategies on-board to both maintain and restore psychological well-being and operational effectiveness. This proposal aims to refine and empirically assess a platform technology designed to monitor and guide crewmembers towards optimal physiological and mental states for current or future tasks via personalized manipulation of the surrounding work environment. Our closed-loop, feedback-based intervention approach will not only enable the maintenance of individual behavioral functioning, but will promote improved team operations as well. Our four specific aims are as follows:

AIM 1: Perform a detailed risk assessment of factors that contribute to personal (and team) dysfunction, particularly in isolated, confined, and extreme environments.

AIM 2: Develop a personalized performance-optimization platform (P-POP) based on closed-loop/feedback that integrates physiological sensing with augmentation of the astronaut’s local working environment (e.g., audio, haptics, light).

AIM 3: Characterize the ability of P-POP to improve key performance capabilities including attention, response time, memory, cognitive control, and operationally-relevant performance.

AIM 4: Assess the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of our proposed platform for use in individuals and teams via empirical testing during long-duration spaceflight analogs.

HYPOTHESES: (Hyp1) The novel P-POP will provide real-time physiological monitoring to enable the personalized manipulation of the local work environment—both in the lab and in Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA). (Hyp2) Our targeted work environment modulations (e.g., sound, haptics, light) will generate significant improvements in individuals’ cognitive and operational performance.

DELIVERABLES: Our project will generate the following deliverables: (1) a characterization of those factors that contribute to poor individual and team performance in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) settings; (2) a novel platform technology capable of real-time tracking of psychological and behavioral health markers and providing targeted augmentation of the local work environment to manipulate those markers; (3) an evaluation of the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of the proposed platform technology, on both individual and team metrics, including testing in a spaceflight analog. Based on our findings, we will develop specific protocols and guidelines for optimal deployment of our platform, as well as providing standards recommendations.

SIGNIFICANCE: This work will provide NASA with a novel and scalable platform technology for on-board behavioral health management—adapting the local working environment via biosensing and feedback. The approach is personalized and closed-loop, guiding individuals away from less-optimal states (as assessed by physiological measurements) and towards more-optimal states. We expect the approach to help maintain and improve individual performance as well as team performance. The system does not require video displays or graphics. Importantly, however, the platform will be designed for future augmentation via other countermeasure approaches (e.g., visual, olfactory), depending on the needs and capabilities of any particular exploration mission. On Earth, such a platform could have considerable utility for optimizing human performance in a wide range of workplaces.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits: The goal of P-POP is to develop a personalized/wearable system that can help enhance user cognitive and spaceflight operations performance. The system will incorporate relatively low-tech "countermeasures"--haptic stimuli, auditory stimuli and lighting stimuli--to help optimize the user's alertness, attention and motivation and/or relaxation depending on the requirements of the task. The optimization will be based on a "closed loop" concept whereby physiological sensing will help identify the user's present state, optimization via one or more countermeasures (CMs) will be deployed, and physiological sensing will determine the consequences of the CMs, allowing for real-time, adaptive feedback-based optimization. Such an approach--being based on feedback from the individual--is inherently personalized: each individual crewmember, by using their own system, can achieve different simulation/relaxation goals simultaneously. On Earth, such a platform could have similar utility for optimizing human performance in a wide range of office or remote workplace settings.

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2024 
Task Progress: The objective of this project is to develop a personalized performance optimization platform, which functions by sensing various physiological parameters from the user, including brain activity, interpreting that data to identify the user’s state (e.g., under- vs. over-stressed), and delivering one or more countermeasures via haptic, auditory, or lighting-based stimulation to optimize that state. We ultimately hope to do this in a continuous, real-time fashion for ongoing performance optimization.

P-POP development is being conducted in phases. Phase 1 (conducted during the first year of the project) involved development and integration of the auditory CM into the hardware platform, specifically using music to optimize behavioral performance. This effort was completed at the end of Phase 1, and was immediately followed by testing of that CM in n=24 human volunteers. In parallel with this testing, we initiated Phase 2 development, which added the somatosensory/haptics CM to the P-POP platform. This step has been completed, and testing this year will assess whether this somatosensory/haptics CM can aid operationally-relevant behavioral performance. We are also starting Phase 3 development, to add a lighting CM to the P-POP platform, followed by similar human performance testing. Finally, in Phase 4, the completed, three-CM P-POP platform will be tested at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) facility as a CM to isolation in confinement during a HERA analog campaign.

By the end of the 3rd year of this project, we will have completed the following major tasks:

Reviews: For project Aim 1, we conducted a detailed literature review to identify risk factors that contribute to personal (and team) dysfunction in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments, along with potential sensory CM approaches. A manuscript is being finalized on this topic. In addition, we conducted a detailed review on the role of music in the modulation of mental states and performance. A complete manuscript will be published on the NASA Technical Reports Server, and an abridged version is currently under review.

Platform Development & Testing: We completed Phase 1 development and Phase 1 (Aim 3) of the music CM. We have completed Phase 2 development of the somatosensory/haptics CM (Aim 2) and are about to start the associated testing (Aim 3). We have initiated Phase 3 development of the personalized lighting CM (Aim 2). We have also begun discussions with JSC Research Operations and Integration (ROI) and other investigators regarding the future planned HERA campaign testing of P-POP.

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 03/25/2024) 

Show Cumulative Bibliography
 
Abstracts for Journals and Proceedings Kosmyna N, Stankovic A, White B, Thoolen S, Ivkovic V, Maes P, Strangman G. "P-POP: A Personalized Performance Optimization Platform for long duration spaceflight – 2023 update." 2023 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop, “To the Moon: The Next Golden Age of Human Spaceflight”, Galveston, TX, February 7-9, 2023.

Abstracts. 2023 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop, “To the Moon: The Next Golden Age of Human Spaceflight”, Galveston, TX, February 7-9, 2023. , Feb-2023

Project Title:  Personalized Performance Optimization Platform (P-POP) Reduce
Fiscal Year: FY 2023 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
HRP HFBP:Human Factors & Behavioral Performance (IRP Rev H)
Start Date: 02/23/2021  
End Date: 02/22/2025  
Task Last Updated: 12/20/2022 
Download report in PDF pdf
Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Strangman, Gary E Ph.D. / Massachusetts General Hospital 
Address:  Department of Psychiatry 
149 13th Street, Suite 2651 
Charlestown , MA 02129-2020 
Email: strang@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu 
Phone: 617-724-0662  
Congressional District:
Web:  
Organization Type: NON-PROFIT 
Organization Name: Massachusetts General Hospital 
Joint Agency:  
Comments:  
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
Ivkovic, Vladimir  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Stankovic, Aleksandra  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Zhang, Quan  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Maes, Patricia  Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Kosmyna, Nataliya  Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Key Personnel Changes / Previous PI: Per the Principal Investigator: Nataliya Kosmyna, Ph.D. has been added to the project as a CoInvestigator (Ed., 3/2/23).
Project Information: Grant/Contract No. 80NSSC21K0669 
Responsible Center: NASA JSC 
Grant Monitor: Whitmire, Alexandra  
Center Contact:  
alexandra.m.whitmire@nasa.gov 
Unique ID: 14430 
Solicitation / Funding Source: 2019-2020 HERO 80JSC019N0001-HHCBPSR, OMNIBUS2: Human Health Countermeasures, Behavioral Performance, and Space Radiation-Appendix C; Omnibus2-Appendix D 
Grant/Contract No.: 80NSSC21K0669 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: Yes 
No. of Post Docs:
No. of PhD Candidates:  
No. of Master's Candidates:  
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:  
No. of PhD Degrees:  
No. of Master's Degrees:  
No. of Bachelor's Degrees:  
Human Research Program Elements: (1) HFBP:Human Factors & Behavioral Performance (IRP Rev H)
Human Research Program Risks: (1) BMed:Risk of Adverse Cognitive or Behavioral Conditions and Psychiatric Disorders
(2) Team:Risk of Performance and Behavioral Health Decrements Due to Inadequate Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, and Psychosocial Adaptation within a Team
Human Research Program Gaps: (1) BMed-102:Given exposures to spaceflight hazards (space radiation, isolation), how do we identify individual susceptibility, monitor molecular/biomarkers and acceptable thresholds, and validate behavioral health and CNS/neurological/neuropsychological performance measures and domains of relevance to exploration class missions?
(2) BMed-103:What are the validated, efficacious treatments (individual or Team-based) and/or countermeasures to prevent adverse behavioral conditions, CNS/neurological, and/or psychiatric disorders caused by either single and/or integrated exposures to spaceflight hazards during exploration class missions?
(3) BMed-105:Given the potentially negative spaceflight associated CNS/cognitive changes and behavioral experiences of stressors during long-duration missions (e.g., isolation, confinement, reduced sensory stimulation, altered gravity, space radiation), what are validated medical or dietary countermeasures to mitigate stressors impacting on CNS / cognition / behavioral health?
(4) Team-103:We need to identify psychological and psychosocial factors, measures, and combinations thereof for use in selecting individuals and composing highly effective crews most likely to maintain team function during shifting autonomy in increasingly earth independent, long duration exploration missions.
(5) Team-105:We need to identify a set of countermeasures to support team function and enable multiple distributed teams to manage shifting levels of autonomy for all phases of increasingly earth independent, long duration exploration missions.
Task Description: BACKGROUND: The environmental conditions of prolonged spaceflight pose significant psychological risks for astronauts. In particular, long duration exposure to an isolated and confined environment can contribute to adverse cognitive or behavioral events and compromise mission safety and/or success. In order to mitigate against mission-related disruptions arising from decrements in behavioral health and performance, NASA needs a set of validated strategies on-board to both maintain and restore psychological well-being and operational effectiveness. This proposal aims to refine and empirically assess a platform technology designed to monitor and guide crewmembers towards optimal physiological and mental states for current or future tasks via personalized manipulation of the surrounding work environment. Our closed-loop, feedback-based intervention approach will not only enable the maintenance of individual behavioral functioning, but will promote improved team operations as well. Our four specific aims are as follows:

AIM 1: Perform a detailed risk assessment of factors that contribute to personal (and team) dysfunction, particularly in isolated, confined, and extreme environments.

AIM 2: Develop a personalized performance-optimization platform (P-POP) based on closed-loop/feedback that integrates physiological sensing with augmentation of the astronaut’s local working environment (e.g., audio, haptics, light).

AIM 3: Characterize the ability of P-POP to improve key performance capabilities including attention, response time, memory, cognitive control, and operationally-relevant performance.

AIM 4: Assess the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of our proposed platform for use in individuals and teams via empirical testing during long-duration spaceflight analogs.

HYPOTHESES: (Hyp1) The novel P-POP will provide real-time physiological monitoring to enable the personalized manipulation of the local work environment—both in the lab and in Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA). (Hyp2) Our targeted work environment modulations (e.g., sound, haptics, light) will generate significant improvements in individuals’ cognitive and operational performance.

DELIVERABLES: Our project will generate the following deliverables: (1) a characterization of those factors that contribute to poor individual and team performance in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) settings; (2) a novel platform technology capable of real-time tracking of psychological and behavioral health markers and providing targeted augmentation of the local work environment to manipulate those markers; (3) an evaluation of the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of the proposed platform technology, on both individual and team metrics, including testing in a spaceflight analog. Based on our findings, we will develop specific protocols and guidelines for optimal deployment of our platform, as well as providing standards recommendations.

SIGNIFICANCE: This work will provide NASA with a novel and scalable platform technology for on-board behavioral health management—adapting the local working environment via biosensing and feedback. The approach is personalized and closed-loop, guiding individuals away from less-optimal states (as assessed by physiological measurements) and towards more-optimal states. We expect the approach to help maintain and improve individual performance as well as team performance. The system does not require video displays or graphics. Importantly, however, the platform will be designed for future augmentation via other countermeasure approaches (e.g., visual, olfactory), depending on the needs and capabilities of any particular exploration mission. On Earth, such a platform could have considerable utility for optimizing human performance in a wide range of workplaces.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits: The goal of P-POP is to develop a personalized/wearable system that can help enhance user cognitive and spaceflight operations performance. The system will incorporate relatively low-tech "countermeasures"--haptic stimuli, auditory stimuli, and lighting stimuli--to help optimize the user's alertness, attention, and motivation and/or relaxation depending on the requirements of the task. The optimization will be based on a "closed loop" concept whereby physiological sensing will help identify the user's present state, optimization via one or more countermeasures (CMs) will be deployed, and physiological sensing will determine the consequences of the CMs, allowing for real-time, adaptive feedback-based optimization. Such an approach--being based on feedback from the individual--is inherently personalized: each individual crewmember, by using their own system, can achieve different simulation/relaxation goals simultaneously. On Earth, such a platform could have similar utility for optimizing human performance in a wide range of office or remote workplace settings.

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2023 
Task Progress: The objective of this project is to develop a personalized performance optimization platform, which functions by sensing various physiological parameters from the user, including brain activity, interpreting that data to identify the user’s state (e.g., under- vs. over-stressed), and delivering one or more countermeasures via haptic, auditory, or lighting-based stimulation to optimize that state. We seek to do this in a continuous, real-time fashion for ongoing performance optimization.

Personalized performance optimization platform (P-POP) development is being conducted incrementally, in approximately year-long phases. Phase 1 (conducted during this first year of the project) involved development and integration of the auditory countermeasure (CM) into the hardware platform, specifically using music to optimize behavioral performance. This effort was completed early in year 2 and was immediately followed by testing of that CM in n=24 human volunteers. In parallel with this testing, we have initiated Phase 2 development, adding the somatosensory/haptics CM to the P-POP platform. This will be followed by testing whether this somatosensory/haptics CM can aid operationally relevant behavioral performance. In Phase 3, we will add the lighting CM to the P-POP platform. Finally, in Phase 4, the completed three-CM P-POP platform will be tested at the JSC HERA facility as a CM to isolation in confinement during a HERA analog campaign.

By the end of the 2nd year of this project, we will have completed the following major tasks:

Reviews: For project Aim 1, we conducted a detailed literature review to identify risk factors that contribute to personal (and team) dysfunction in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments, along with potential sensory CM approaches. A manuscript is being prepared of this topic. In addition, we conducted a detailed review on the role of music in the modulation of mental states and performance. A complete manuscript will be published on the NASA Technical Reports Server, and an abridged version is currently under review.

Platform Development & Testing: For project Aim 2, we completed Phase 1 development and Phase 1 testing of the music CM and have initiated Phase 2 development and preparation for testing (the somatosensory/haptics CM). We have also initiated the planning of the Phase 3 development (personalized lighting CM).

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 03/25/2024) 

Show Cumulative Bibliography
 
Abstracts for Journals and Proceedings N. Kosmyna, A. Stankovic, B. White, S. Thoolen, V. Ivkovic, P. Maes, and G. Strangman "P-POP: A PERSONALIZED PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION PLATFORM FOR LONG DURATION SPACEFLIGHT – 2023 UPDATE" 2023 NASA Human Research Program Investigators' Workshop, Galveston, Texas, February 7-9, 2023

Abstracts. 2023 NASA Human Research Program Investigators' Workshop, Galveston, Texas, February 7-9, 2023 , Jan-2023

Project Title:  Personalized Performance Optimization Platform (P-POP) Reduce
Fiscal Year: FY 2022 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
HRP HFBP:Human Factors & Behavioral Performance (IRP Rev H)
Start Date: 02/23/2021  
End Date: 02/22/2025  
Task Last Updated: 12/23/2021 
Download report in PDF pdf
Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Strangman, Gary E Ph.D. / Massachusetts General Hospital 
Address:  Department of Psychiatry 
149 13th Street, Suite 2651 
Charlestown , MA 02129-2020 
Email: strang@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu 
Phone: 617-724-0662  
Congressional District:
Web:  
Organization Type: NON-PROFIT 
Organization Name: Massachusetts General Hospital 
Joint Agency:  
Comments:  
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
Ivkovic, Vladimir  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Stankovic, Aleksandra  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Zhang, Quan  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Maes, Patricia  Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Key Personnel Changes / Previous PI: December 2021 report: Stijn Thoolen, MD, was included on the project starting October 2021 to help support the Aim 1 literature reviews. Dr. Thoolen was the station research doctor at Concordia Station, Antarctica during all of 2020 and has unique insights into the challenges faced in isolated, confined, and extreme environments.
Project Information: Grant/Contract No. 80NSSC21K0669 
Responsible Center: NASA JSC 
Grant Monitor: Whitmire, Alexandra  
Center Contact:  
alexandra.m.whitmire@nasa.gov 
Unique ID: 14430 
Solicitation / Funding Source: 2019-2020 HERO 80JSC019N0001-HHCBPSR, OMNIBUS2: Human Health Countermeasures, Behavioral Performance, and Space Radiation-Appendix C; Omnibus2-Appendix D 
Grant/Contract No.: 80NSSC21K0669 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: Yes 
No. of Post Docs:
No. of PhD Candidates:  
No. of Master's Candidates:  
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:  
No. of PhD Degrees:  
No. of Master's Degrees:  
No. of Bachelor's Degrees:  
Human Research Program Elements: (1) HFBP:Human Factors & Behavioral Performance (IRP Rev H)
Human Research Program Risks: (1) BMed:Risk of Adverse Cognitive or Behavioral Conditions and Psychiatric Disorders
(2) Team:Risk of Performance and Behavioral Health Decrements Due to Inadequate Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, and Psychosocial Adaptation within a Team
Human Research Program Gaps: (1) BMed-102:Given exposures to spaceflight hazards (space radiation, isolation), how do we identify individual susceptibility, monitor molecular/biomarkers and acceptable thresholds, and validate behavioral health and CNS/neurological/neuropsychological performance measures and domains of relevance to exploration class missions?
(2) BMed-103:What are the validated, efficacious treatments (individual or Team-based) and/or countermeasures to prevent adverse behavioral conditions, CNS/neurological, and/or psychiatric disorders caused by either single and/or integrated exposures to spaceflight hazards during exploration class missions?
(3) BMed-105:Given the potentially negative spaceflight associated CNS/cognitive changes and behavioral experiences of stressors during long-duration missions (e.g., isolation, confinement, reduced sensory stimulation, altered gravity, space radiation), what are validated medical or dietary countermeasures to mitigate stressors impacting on CNS / cognition / behavioral health?
(4) Team-103:We need to identify psychological and psychosocial factors, measures, and combinations thereof for use in selecting individuals and composing highly effective crews most likely to maintain team function during shifting autonomy in increasingly earth independent, long duration exploration missions.
(5) Team-105:We need to identify a set of countermeasures to support team function and enable multiple distributed teams to manage shifting levels of autonomy for all phases of increasingly earth independent, long duration exploration missions.
Task Description: BACKGROUND: The environmental conditions of prolonged spaceflight pose significant psychological risks for astronauts. In particular, long duration exposure to an isolated and confined environment can contribute to adverse cognitive or behavioral events and compromise mission safety and/or success. In order to mitigate against mission-related disruptions arising from decrements in behavioral health and performance, NASA needs a set of validated strategies on-board to both maintain and restore psychological well-being and operational effectiveness. This proposal aims to refine and empirically assess a platform technology designed to monitor and guide crewmembers towards optimal physiological and mental states for current or future tasks via personalized manipulation of the surrounding work environment. Our closed-loop, feedback-based intervention approach will not only enable the maintenance of individual behavioral functioning, but will promote improved team operations as well. Our four specific aims are as follows:

AIM 1: Perform a detailed risk assessment of factors that contribute to personal (and team) dysfunction, particularly in isolated, confined, and extreme environments.

AIM 2: Develop a personalized performance-optimization platform (P-POP) based on closed-loop/feedback that integrates physiological sensing with augmentation of the astronaut’s local working environment (e.g., audio, haptics, light).

AIM 3: Characterize the ability of P-POP to improve key performance capabilities including attention, response time, memory, cognitive control, and operationally-relevant performance.

AIM 4: Assess the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of our proposed platform for use in individuals and teams via empirical testing during long-duration spaceflight analogs.

HYPOTHESES: (Hyp1) The novel P-POP will provide real-time physiological monitoring to enable the personalized manipulation of the local work environment—both in the lab and in Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA). (Hyp2) Our targeted work environment modulations (e.g., sound, haptics, light) will generate significant improvements in individuals’ cognitive and operational performance.

DELIVERABLES: Our project will generate the following deliverables: (1) a characterization of those factors that contribute to poor individual and team performance in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) settings; (2) a novel platform technology capable of real-time tracking of psychological and behavioral health markers and providing targeted augmentation of the local work environment to manipulate those markers; (3) an evaluation of the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of the proposed platform technology, on both individual and team metrics, including testing in a spaceflight analog. Based on our findings, we will develop specific protocols and guidelines for optimal deployment of our platform, as well as providing standards recommendations.

SIGNIFICANCE: This work will provide NASA with a novel and scalable platform technology for on-board behavioral health management—adapting the local working environment via biosensing and feedback. The approach is personalized and closed-loop, guiding individuals away from less-optimal states (as assessed by physiological measurements) and towards more-optimal states. We expect the approach to help maintain and improve individual performance as well as team performance. The system does not require video displays or graphics. Importantly, however, the platform will be designed for future augmentation via other countermeasure approaches (e.g., visual, olfactory), depending on the needs and capabilities of any particular exploration mission. On Earth, such a platform could have considerable utility for optimizing human performance in a wide range of workplaces.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits: The goal of P-POP is to develop a personalized/wearable system that can help enhance user cognitive and spaceflight operations performance. The system will incorporate relatively low-tech "countermeasures"--haptic stimuli, auditory stimuli, and lighting stimuli--to help optimize the user's alertness, attention, and motivation and/or relaxation depending on the requirements of the task. The optimization will be based on a "closed loop" concept whereby physiological sensing will help identify the user's present state, optimization via one or more countermeasures (CMs) will be deployed, and physiological sensing will determine the consequences of the CMs, allowing for real-time, adaptive feedback-based optimization. Such an approach--being based on feedback from the individual--is inherently personalized: each individual crewmember, by using their own system, can achieve different simulation/relaxation goals simultaneously. On Earth, such a platform could have similar utility for optimizing human performance in a wide range of office or remote workplace settings.

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2022 
Task Progress: The objective of this project is to develop a personalized performance optimization platform, which functions by sensing various physiological parameters from the user, interpreting that data to identify the user’s state (e.g., under- vs. over-stressed), and delivering one or more countermeasures via haptic, auditory, or lighting-based stimulation to optimize that state. This is done in a continuous, real-time fashion for ongoing performance optimization.

P-POP development is being conducted incrementally, in approximately year-long phases. Phase 1 (conducted during this first year of the project) involves development and integration of the auditory countermeasure (CM) into the hardware platform. This step is then followed by testing of that CM in human volunteers. In Phase 2, we will add the lighting CM to the auditory-only platform, followed by testing of the two-CM platform. In Phase 3, we will add the haptics CM, followed by testing of the three-CM platform. Finally, in Phase 4, the completed, three-CM platform will be tested at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) facility as a CM to isolation in confinement during a HERA analog campaign.

By the end of the 1st year of this project, we will have completed the following major tasks:

Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval: Massachusetts General Hospita (MGH) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have approved the protocols for conducting the required human subject testing.

Reviews: Towards project Aim 1, we conducted a detailed literature review to identify risk factors that contribute to personal (and team) dysfunction in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments, along with potential sensory CM approaches. A manuscript is being prepared on this topic. In addition, we have conducted a thorough review on the role of music in the modulation of mental states and performance. A manuscript is also being completed on this topic.

Platform Development & Testing: Towards project Aim 2, we designed and assembled the Phase 1 version of P-POP, which seeks to enhance user performance based on optimizing the musical playlist to meet the desired subject activation state. Numerous key variables need to be considered, given that vocal music can interfere with complex/verbal tasks, and variables such as musical mode, tempo, dynamics, texture, and articulation all have the potential to both positively and adversely interact with the subject’s activation state. We are now initiating the testing portion of Phase 1 development, which will help us characterize the effect direction and magnitude of these variables on human performance. We are simultaneously beginning to plan Phase 2 of the platform which will integrate a lighting CM.

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 03/25/2024) 

Show Cumulative Bibliography
 
Abstracts for Journals and Proceedings Stankovic A, Kosmyna N, White B, Ivkovic V, Maes G. "P-POP: A personalized performance optimization platform for long duration spaceflight." 2022 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop, Virtual, February 7-10, 2022.

Abstracts. 2022 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop, Virtual, February 7-10, 2022. , Feb-2022

Abstracts for Journals and Proceedings Kosmyna N, Stankovic A, White B, Ivkovic V, Maes P, Strangman G. "P-POP: Towards wearable countermeasures for real-time performance optimization for long duration spaceflight." 2022 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop, Virtual, February 7-10, 2022.

Abstracts. 2022 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop, Virtual, February 7-10, 2022. , Feb-2022

Abstracts for Journals and Proceedings Kosmyna N, Stankovic A, White B, Ivkovic V, Maes P, Strangman G. "P-POP: Deploying music and auditory stimulation for real-time improvement of performance, relaxation and well-being using physiological sensing." 2022 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop, Virtual, February 7-10, 2022.

Abstracts. 2022 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop, Virtual, February 7-10, 2022. , Feb-2022

Project Title:  Personalized Performance Optimization Platform (P-POP) Reduce
Fiscal Year: FY 2021 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
HRP HFBP:Human Factors & Behavioral Performance (IRP Rev H)
Start Date: 02/23/2021  
End Date: 02/22/2025  
Task Last Updated: 06/07/2021 
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Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Strangman, Gary E Ph.D. / Massachusetts General Hospital 
Address:  Department of Psychiatry 
149 13th Street, Suite 2651 
Charlestown , MA 02129-2020 
Email: strang@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu 
Phone: 617-724-0662  
Congressional District:
Web:  
Organization Type: NON-PROFIT 
Organization Name: Massachusetts General Hospital 
Joint Agency:  
Comments:  
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
Ivkovic, Vladimir  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Stankovic, Aleksandra  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Zhang, Quan  Ph.D. Massachusetts General Hospital 
Maes, Patricia  Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Project Information: Grant/Contract No. 80NSSC21K0669 
Responsible Center: NASA JSC 
Grant Monitor: Whitmire, Alexandra  
Center Contact:  
alexandra.m.whitmire@nasa.gov 
Unique ID: 14430 
Solicitation / Funding Source: 2019-2020 HERO 80JSC019N0001-HHCBPSR, OMNIBUS2: Human Health Countermeasures, Behavioral Performance, and Space Radiation-Appendix C; Omnibus2-Appendix D 
Grant/Contract No.: 80NSSC21K0669 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: Yes 
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Human Research Program Elements: (1) HFBP:Human Factors & Behavioral Performance (IRP Rev H)
Human Research Program Risks: (1) BMed:Risk of Adverse Cognitive or Behavioral Conditions and Psychiatric Disorders
(2) Team:Risk of Performance and Behavioral Health Decrements Due to Inadequate Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, and Psychosocial Adaptation within a Team
Human Research Program Gaps: (1) BMed-102:Given exposures to spaceflight hazards (space radiation, isolation), how do we identify individual susceptibility, monitor molecular/biomarkers and acceptable thresholds, and validate behavioral health and CNS/neurological/neuropsychological performance measures and domains of relevance to exploration class missions?
(2) BMed-103:What are the validated, efficacious treatments (individual or Team-based) and/or countermeasures to prevent adverse behavioral conditions, CNS/neurological, and/or psychiatric disorders caused by either single and/or integrated exposures to spaceflight hazards during exploration class missions?
(3) BMed-105:Given the potentially negative spaceflight associated CNS/cognitive changes and behavioral experiences of stressors during long-duration missions (e.g., isolation, confinement, reduced sensory stimulation, altered gravity, space radiation), what are validated medical or dietary countermeasures to mitigate stressors impacting on CNS / cognition / behavioral health?
(4) Team-103:We need to identify psychological and psychosocial factors, measures, and combinations thereof for use in selecting individuals and composing highly effective crews most likely to maintain team function during shifting autonomy in increasingly earth independent, long duration exploration missions.
(5) Team-105:We need to identify a set of countermeasures to support team function and enable multiple distributed teams to manage shifting levels of autonomy for all phases of increasingly earth independent, long duration exploration missions.
Task Description: BACKGROUND: The environmental conditions of prolonged spaceflight pose significant psychological risks for astronauts. In particular, long duration exposure to an isolated and confined environment can contribute to adverse cognitive or behavioral events and compromise mission safety and/or success. In order to mitigate against mission-related disruptions arising from decrements in behavioral health and performance, NASA needs a set of validated, timely on-board strategies both to maintain and restore psychological well-being and operational effectiveness. This proposal aims to refine and empirically assess a platform technology designed to monitor and guide crewmembers towards optimal physiological and mental states for current or future tasks via personalized manipulation of the surrounding work environment. Our closed-loop, feedback-based intervention approach will not only enable the maintenance of individual behavioral functioning, but will promote improved team operations as well. Our four specific aims are as follows:

AIM 1: Perform a detailed risk assessment of factors that contribute to personal (and team) dysfunction, particularly in isolated, confined, and extreme environments.

AIM 2: Develop a personalized performance-optimization platform (P-POP) based on closed-loop/feedback that integrates physiological sensing with augmentation of the astronaut’s local working environment (e.g., audio, haptics, light).

AIM 3: Characterize the ability of P-POP to improve key performance capabilities including attention, response time, memory, cognitive control, and operationally-relevant performance.

AIM 4: Assess the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of our proposed platform for use in individuals and teams via empirical testing during long-duration spaceflight analogs.

HYPOTHESES: (Hyp1) The novel P-POP will provide real-time physiological monitoring to enable the personalized manipulation of the local work environment—both in the lab and in Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA). (Hyp2) Our targeted work environment modulations (e.g., sound, haptics, light) will generate significant improvements in individuals’ cognitive and operational performance.

DELIVERABLES: Our project will generate the following deliverables: (1) a characterization of those factors that contribute to poor individual and team performance in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) settings; (2) a novel platform technology capable of real-time tracking of psychological and behavioral health markers and providing targeted augmentation of the local work environment to manipulate those markers; (3) an evaluation of the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of the proposed platform technology, on both individual and team metrics, including testing in a spaceflight analog. Based on our findings, we will develop specific protocols and guidelines for optimal deployment of our platform, as well as providing standards recommendations.

SIGNIFICANCE: This work will provide NASA with a novel and scalable platform technology for on-board behavioral health management—adapting the local working environment via feedback based biosensing. The approach is personalized and closed-loop, guiding individuals away from less-optimal states (as assessed by physiological measurements) and towards more-optimal states. We expect the approach to help maintain and improve individual performance as well as team performance. The system does not require video displays or graphics. Importantly, however, the platform will be designed for future augmentation via other countermeasure approaches (e.g., visual, olfactory), depending on the needs and capabilities of any particular exploration mission. On Earth, such a platform could have considerable utility for optimizing human performance in a wide range of workplaces.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits: On Earth, such a platform could have considerable utility for optimizing human performance in a wide range of workplaces.

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2021 
Task Progress: New project for FY2021.

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 03/25/2024) 

Show Cumulative Bibliography
 
 None in FY 2021