An Augmented Reality Hand-Eye Sensorimotor Impairment Assessment for Spaceflight Operations

Area of Science:

• Space Medicine
• Neuroscience
• Human Factors Engineering

Background:

• Astronauts face sensorimotor challenges adapting to Earth's gravity after spaceflight.
• Vestibular system reinterpretation causes impairment, affecting critical task performance.
• Lightweight, autonomous assessments are crucial for future space exploration missions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a novel 2D hand-eye tapping task for detecting vestibular-dominated sensorimotor impairment.
• To assess the impact of galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) on sensorimotor performance.
• To determine the task's utility for monitoring astronaut adaptation between gravity environments.

Main Methods:

• Twenty subjects performed a 2D augmented reality hand-eye tapping task.
• Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) was applied to induce a vestibular impairment paradigm.
• Balance metrics (sway, vestibular index) and task performance (completion time, misses, head acceleration) were measured.

Main Results:

• GVS significantly increased medial-lateral sway (effect size: 1.2) and anterior-posterior sway (effect size: 0.63).
• The vestibular index was also affected by GVS (effect size: 0.65).
• Task performance showed increased completion time (effect size: 0.63) and misses (effect size: 0.52) under GVS.

Conclusions:

• The multidirectional tapping task can detect vestibular-dominated sensorimotor impairment in astronauts.
• Reduced speed and accuracy during the task suggest potential difficulties in acquiring targets post-flight.
• This assessment can support operational decisions by tracking sensorimotor adaptation.