Personalized Performance Optimization Platform (P-POP) for Long Duration Spaceflight

1. Background and Significance

Crews of future long-duration space exploration missions will have to cope with a wide range of stressors that present significant challenges for maintaining optimal performance. Crews will have to operate under conditions of high workload, reduced sleep and circadian dysregulation, limited sensory stimulation, confinement and extended separation from family and friends [5], and communication delays isolating them from real-time interaction with ground support, which may be particularly critical in the event of emergencies. These factors present significant risks to optimal cognitive/behavioral functioning and performance, across individuals and teams, and such challenges will only increase in criticality as human exploration moves beyond Earth's orbit to targets such as the Moon and Mars.

To help mitigate these risks, Massachusetts General Hospital, along with collaborators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will investigate a novel, personalized and scalable, closed-loop platform technology for on-board behavioral health management-one which adapts an individual's local working environment to optimize performance, based on biosensor feedback.

Countermeasures (CMs) to Maintain/Improve Performance The premise of this proposed work is dynamically modifying an individual's local environment to help optimize performance. Since video displays require complex electronics which may not function in deep space, the investigators will study the following non-video countermeasures (CMs).

Auditory Stimulation: Acoustic cues are common in biofeedback systems, with beeps and chimes often used to help trigger attentional redirection. Other sound cues-including natural sounds like flowing water, or even music-can also induce performance-beneficial physiological responses, including predictable changes in arousal-related measures such as heart rate and EDA. The underlying beat of music has been shown to alter arousal, with different modulations promoting relaxation or increased attention. Previous work also suggests that music may impact complex task performance (e.g., driving), and may alter student learning, through its mediating effects on arousal and alertness.