Cardiovascular and respiratory responses during a complex decision-making task under prolonged isolation
article
The present study evaluated the physiological and subjective costs of mainten-ance of high performance levels among three male and one female volunteers who remained for 60 days in isolation in a restricted environ-ment (EXEMSI'92). The study took place in the DLR Centre for Aerospace Medicine and was performed in collaboration with the University of Hull (Hockey). On a daily basis, respir-ation, heart rate and blood pressure were measured during a baseline period and during perform-ance of a complex decision-making task (COST). In addition, subjec-tive reports of workload, fatigue, and anxiety were col-lected. Results show that there were highly idiosyncratic trends in the physio-logical measures across the two-month period: In one subject, there was a steady in-crease in heart rate and blood pressure. Among two subjects, there also was an increase in heart rate, but blood pressure decreased. In contrast, heart rate decreased in the fourth subject, with no change in blood pressure. Striking individual differences were also found in the patterning of the respiratory measures across the isolation period. The findings are discussed in terms of day-by-day variations in effort investment, as well as in terms of cumulative long-term effects of isolation stress.
Topics
adultarticleblood pressurecardiovascular functiondecision makingfeasibility studyfemaleheart ratehumanmalepsychologic testrespiratory functionsocial isolationspace flighttimeAdultBlood PressureCardiovascular PhysiologyDecision MakingFeasibility StudiesFemaleHeart RateHumansMalePsychological TestsRespiratory PhysiologySocial IsolationSpace SimulationTime Factors
TNO Identifier
8570
Source
Advances in Space Biology and Medicine, 5, pp. 133-155.
Pages
133-155
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