Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era (2011) / Chapter Skim
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5 Behavior and Mental Health
5 Behavior and Mental Health
Pages 81-98
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From page 81... ...
Human Research Road Map2 lists the following risks under the Behavioral Health and Performance category: risk of performance errors due to fatigue resulting from sleep loss, circadian desynchronization, extended wakefulness, and work overload; risk of performance decrements due to inadequate cooperation, coordination, communication, and 81
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From page 82... ...
COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING To realize the full potential of crewed space missions, it is critical that appropriately selected astronauts are provided an environment that ensures not only their physical health and well-being but also their psychological health and their continued capacity for higher-order cognitive abilities such as problem solving, situational aware ness, and judgment -- as well as those human qualities such as inquisitiveness, courage, and determination upon which the successful exploration of space ultimately depends. Although recent work (e.g., using functional brain imaging techniques)
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From page 83... ...
Research could be conducted mostly in laboratories and analog environments on Earth; this research enables space missions.
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From page 84... ...
INDIVIDUAL FUNCTIONING The adaptation of the individual astronaut to the novel conditions of space and increasing distance from Earth must be considered in directing research activities over the next decade. Major priorities are methods and interven tions to maintain optimal psychological and behavioral functioning and to prevent or treat mental disorders that might develop in the space environment.
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From page 85... ...
Psychological Symptoms Even though astronauts are psychologically healthy at the time of selection, they have reported symptoms reflecting psychological dysfunction during space missions.8,9 To the extent that these psychological problems developed in response to the rigors of the space environment (rather than indicating inadequate screening) , it is likely that such problems will be exacerbated during exploration missions involving greater isolation from Earth and separation from family and significant others over increasingly extended periods of time.
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From page 86... ...
Both psychological and bio logical approaches are being pursued to identify vulnerability to psychological dysfunction. Based on extended experience with long-duration missions, the Russian space program has identified a psychophysiological condition termed asthenia, evident in approximately 60 percent of cosmonauts who have flown in space.
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From page 87... ...
Their test results will contribute to a scientific understanding of individual characteristics that influence the interactions between space crews and ground personnel and the consequent effects on mission performance, particularly under conditions of high autonomy. This research enables space missions.
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From page 88... ...
Careful attention should be given to selection characteristics of such individuals as well as to the extent of their training for the space environment. While some guidelines are currently available for short-term space tourists, it is likely that more stringent selection criteria and training will be necessary for non-astronaut crew who are participating in longer space missions.
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From page 89... ...
, and other (e.g., interest in leisure activities) characteristics that have been shown to predict crew cohesion and conflict, team decision making, and response to crises.
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From page 90... ...
and rigorously designed experimental simulations (e.g., long-duration chamber studies) that faithfully mirror actual mission parameters (e.g., isolation, confinement, workload, long and uncertain duration, communication delays, disruption of diurnal sleep-wake cycles)
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From page 91... ...
This research enables space missions. SLEEP AND SPACE Historically, NASA has recognized the importance of sleep and circadian rhythms for the sustainment of cogni tive functioning and has funded and conducted seminal studies in the relevant areas of sleep loss, circadian rhythms,
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From page 92... ...
Effects of Acute Sleep Loss Prior studies have shown that performance on a variety of cognitive tasks ranging from simple reaction time to situation awareness and problem solving varies as a function of sleep duration, time since awakening, and phase of the circadian rhythm of alertness.55 The biochemical processes that underlie the alertness and cognitive performance deficits that accrue with acute sleep loss -- and the complementary biochemical processes by which alertness and mental agility are restored during subsequent sleep -- are as yet unknown. 56 However, functional brain imaging studies have shown that sleepiness is characterized by deactivation of regional brain activity, with the greatest deactivations occurring in the thalamus (which mediates alertness and attention)
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From page 93... ...
Sleep and Resilience The potential effects of chronic sleep loss on those aspects of cognitive functioning that mediate individual and group functioning (cohesiveness and cooperation) are less clear than the effects on alertness and simple cogni tive processes discussed above.
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From page 94... ...
2. Given the importance of sleep for sustaining cognitive performance, NASA should support research to determine whether stressors unique to the space environment impact restorative sleep processes, and if so, to what extent.
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From page 95... ...
specifically for the purpose of studying interrelationships among individual functioning, cognitive performance, sleep, and group dynamics. The ultimate research aim would be to build predictive models of astronaut performance and well-being during extended missions in space that can be used to plan and manage such missions.
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From page 96... ...
2007. Crewmember and mission control personnel interactions during International Space Station missions.
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From page 97... ...
I Effects of 24 h of sleep deprivation on waking human regional brain activity.
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