The test, called the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT), has been experimentally verified to be sensitive to a subject’s fatigue and other related factors while performing strenuous tasks. The amount of fatigue determines how well the task is performed and how much attention the subject gives to the task.

Such tests will become very important as space travelers spend longer periods of time on space stations, on Moon and Martian bases, and traveling in spacecraft.

The NEEMO 13 crew includes team leader Nicholas Patrick (United States), Richard Arnold (United States), Satoshi Furukawa (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Christopher Gerty (United States).

Basically, the crewmembers are told to look for a signal and respond to it. When the signal appears, the subject reacts to it, and reaction times are measured. Thus, the PVT measures psychomotor (physical and mental) speed, attention, and vigilance (alertness) while performing a task.

The PVT is given to crewmembers at least four times a day: upon waking; before and after such activities as a simulated moon walks, ocean dives, and various experiments; and before sleeping. Such events, like taking samples of materials on the ocean bottom (to simulate lunar sample collection) and construction of a communications tower (to simulate building of structures on the Moon), involve high performance, high stress activities.

A device called an Actiwatch® is also worn by the crewmembers to measure attributes involving their 24-hour waking and sleeping cycle. Samples of saliva from each crewmember is taken when the PVT is given and at other various times. Cortisol is one substance measured within the saliva. It is a hormone that relates to stress levels in humans (higher/lower cortisol levels is associated with higher/lower stress).

Questionaires are also filled out throughout the day so the amount of the crew’s physical and mental workload can be evaluated, along with their personal feelings, moods, attitudes about other crewmembers, and other such factors.

Dr. David F. Dinges, team leader, and his colleagues with the NSBRI’s Neurobehavioral and Phychosocial Factors Team, are gathering data during the NEEMO 13 mission, along with the previous NEEMO 9 and NEEMO 12 missions.

According to Dinges, “On exploration missions, quick, self tests could allow astronauts to assess how they are functioning from a cognitive performance standpoint as it relates to fatigue and stress. In this mission, we’ll gather data to help us refine the self tests and develop an interface component that provides immediate feedback to the user.”

NEEMO 13, which runs from August 6 to 15, 2007, is the thirteenth of a series of underwater missions targeted to simulate space environment. The underwater mission takes place in Aquarius, the world’s only underwater research habitat. It is located near Key Largo, Florida, about 62 feet (19 meters) below the surface. Aquarius is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and operated by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW).

For additional information on NEEMO 13, go to the iTWire article “NASA’s NEEMO-13 goes under the sea”.

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