PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Schiewe

Publications and source records attributed to A Schiewe.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Dual-task performance in space: results from a single-case study during a short-term space mission.

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.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Behavioral aspects of human adaptation to space: analyses of cognitive and psychomotor performance in space during an 8-day space mission.

Living in the space environment and exposure to microgravity induce a number of effects that may interfere with human cognitive and psychomotor performance. However, up to now very few attempts have been made to monitor possible impairments of human performance during space missions. In the present single-case study several cognitive and psychomotor functions were monitored during an 8-day space mission to an orbital station using a computerized performance monitoring device. This device included four different tasks, which were selected from a battery of Standardized Tests for Research with Environmental Stressors published recently by the NATO Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, and which demanded logical reasoning and decision-making functions, memory retrieval functions, and fine manual control. Each task was performed 23 times (6 preflight, 13 inflight, 4 postflight sessions). By means of single-subject statistics inflight performance was compared with baseline performance during pre- and postflight sessions. In accordance with the few previous performance studies conducted during space flights, speed and accuracy of short-term memory retrieval and logical reasoning functions remained unimpaired during the stay in space. However, clear decrements in tracking performance were found, showing to increased difficulties in fine manual control. These results suggest that performance decrements in space may arise primarily in psychomotor functions due to alterations requiring an effortful accommodation of motor skills which had been acquired under 1-g conditions to the new conditions of microgravity.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Psychological training of German science astronauts.

Although the significance of psychosocial issues of manned space flights has been discussed very often in recent literature, up to now, very few attempts have been made in North-America or Europe to provide astronaut candidates or spacecrew members with some kind of psychological training. As a first attempt in this field, a psychological training program for science astronauts is described, which has been developed by the German Aerospace Research Establishment and performed as part of the mission-independent biomedical training of the German astronauts' team. In contrast to other training concepts, this training program focused not only on skills needed to cope with psychosocial issues regarding long-term stays in space, but also on skills needed to cope with the different demands during the long pre-mission phase. Topics covered in the training were "Communication and Cooperation", "Stress-Management", "Coping with Operational Demands", "Effective Problem Solving in Groups", and "Problem-Oriented Team Supervision".

Adaptation, Psychological↗