Free Cognitive Capacity Assessed by the P300 Method During Manual Docking Training in Space

INTRODUCTION: The classical P300 brain potential method was used to assess the cognitive capacity during training of manual docking in space. The aim of the study was to enhance the safety of this operation during a mission.METHODS: To examine this, N = 8 cosmonauts had to perform the manually controlled docking task simultaneously with an acoustic monitoring task. The P300 component was evoked by the acoustic stimuli of the secondary task. The docking task had to be executed at three difficulty levels: low (station not turning); medium (station turning around one axis); and difficult (station turning around three axes). In the secondary task, subjects had to discriminate between a low and a high tone, which occurred with a probability of 90% and 10%, respectively. Subjects had to count the high tones. After the 10th high tone, they had to inspect the power supply by giving an oral command.RESULTS: A methodology for event-related potentials was successfully demonstrated under space conditions. The P300 amplitude was largest and the latency shortest during the medium difficult task.DISCUSSION: The results suggest that P300 can be recorded during the complex manual docking task in space and could be used to assess individual available cognitive capacity of cosmonauts during a space mission.Bubeev JA, Johannes B, Kotrovska TI, Schastlivtseva D, Bronnikov S, Hoermann H-J, Gaillard AWK.