Accession Number:
AD1141503
Title:
Non-invasive Physiological Biomarkers of Cognitive Fatigue in a Virtual Reality Simulated, Rotary-Wing Flight Environment
Descriptive Note:
[Technical Report, Final Report]
Corporate Author:
ARMY AEROMEDICAL RESEARCH LAB FORT RUCKER ALMASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH LEXINGTON
Personal Author(s):
Report Date:
2021-07-07
Pagination or Media Count:
0
Abstract:
Timely and accurate monitoring of aviator cognitive workload offers a means to identify and mitigate aviation mishaps. This study examined a proof-of-concept for a non-invasive, multi-modal platform to quantify the relationship between physiological indicators of pilot fatigue and operational performance in simulated flight tasks. Seven participants two females varying from no piloting experience to a commercially rated pilots, completed a 90-min repetitive flight traffic pattern. The psychomotor vigilance task PVT, flight performance data, and thirteen physiological sensing modalities monitored fatigue and performance. Post-flight PVT reaction times were longer as compared to pre-flight baselines. Further, vocal biomarkers analyses support the existence of a coupling between fine motor aspects of speech production and flight performance in more experienced aviators. These preliminary results show the potential for speech to be used to predict real-time flight performance. In future work, addition sensing modalities e.g., eye tracking, electrocardiogram, electrodermal activity, and torso accelerometry are to be included into the analysis.
Descriptors:
Subject Categories:
- Stress Physiology
- Psychology