Citation

Manzey DH, Lorenz B, Schiewe A, Finell G, Thiele G. Hum. Factors 1995; 37(4): 667-681.

Affiliation

German Aerospace Research Establishment, Hamburg.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8851772

Abstract

During spaceflights, astronauts are exposed to many stressors (e.g., microgravity, confinement) that may impair human information-processing capabilities. In order to analyze the possible effects of the space environment on human time-sharing efficiency, a single-case experiment was conducted in which the time course of dual-task performance (unstable tracking with concurrent memory search) of one space crew member was monitored repeatedly (13 times) throughout an 8-day space mission. Tasks were taken from the Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development battery of Standardized Tests for Research with Environmental Stressors. Comparisons of in-flight, preflight, and postflight performance revealed no decrements in single-task memory search performance but did reveal clear impairments in single-task tracking and dual-task performance. From these results we conclude that psychomotor processes and higher attentional functions are particularly prone to disturbance effects in space.

Language: en