Spring/Summer 2003 |
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Teamwork in Space
Study focuses on effects of high-risk, high-stress environment By Jane M. Sanders | |
ASTRONAUTS FLYING SPACE MISSIONS face a daunting array of task-related and psycho-social stressors that inevitably affect their decision-making and performance as a crew.
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Specifically how this high-risk, high-stress environment affects a space crew's performance is the focus of a study led by Georgia Institute of Technology researcher Ute Fischer and her NASA Ames Research Center colleague Judith Orasanu.
Results of the study – funded by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston – will also have applications for teams working in other extreme environments, such as Antarctica, the researchers say.
"The issues are task-related stresses among the team members," explains Fischer, a research scientist in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture. "It's already stressful enough in a high-risk environment. And if something goes wrong, you might not have much time. In addition, there are psycho-social stresses because they are often working with an international crew, and they are isolated from the rest of the planet."
To study team interaction, researchers use a software program they developed with Aptima Technology to simulate a search-and-rescue mission in Antarctica. The simulation is designed to induce stress in experiment subjects, measure its effects on crew performance and monitor individual physiological indicators of stress, including pulse, respiration and muscle tension. Researchers correlate this data with audio and video observations of team decision-making as indicated by facial expressions and verbal communication.
In a later phase of the study, researchers will study whether the crew's communication medium – whether audio alone or e-mail alone – affects team interaction. Researchers also hope to develop countermeasures – primarily pre-mission training – to prevent deterioration of crew interaction and mission performance, Fischer says.
Inside the Spacelab Science Module, the crewmembers of STS-71, Mir- 18, and Mir-19 pose for the traditional inflight picture. An important mission for the human spaceflight program, STS-71 was the 100th U.S. human space launch from Cape Canaveral at Kennedy Space Center. Internationally significant as well, STS-71 was the first U.S. Space Shuttle- Russian Space Station Mir docking and joint on-orbit operation.
Experiments that began this spring are using the simulation program to compare interactions in teams of American male subjects with interactions in teams of international males and teams composed of American and international males and females. All subjects are being recruited from a science- and/or engineering-educated segment of the public.
Using the simulation software, team members coordinate a search-and-rescue mission for an antenna repair team lost in a storm in Antarctica. Team members are physically isolated from each other after they have an initial face-to-face strategy session recorded on videotape by the researchers. In the scenario, one team member is the base coordinator and receives data he or she may share with other team members in "the field."
All team members see a computer graphic that looks like a maze. Terrain types and other features are indicated by a color coding system. Clues, satellite messages and seismic monitor signals provide information about the lost crew's location.
Over a three-day period of experiments, subjects experience six variations of the search-and-rescue scenario. Half of the subjects play the game in cooperative conditions where they are rewarded for working together. The other subjects receive instructions for competitive conditions – designed to induce friction – where points are given for individual performance.
Subjects also face pressure regarding resource allocation. Each team member must make decisions on the proper use of items such as equipment, fuel and the expertise of a virtual technical staff.
"Whatever task you do eats up your resources just like real people would encounter," Fischer explains. "So it becomes a tradeoff. Do you do something by yourself or do you coordinate with other players to conserve resources?"
Subjects have 75 minutes to complete the simulated mission.
Researchers expect to have their experimental data analyzed by the spring of 2004. Then they will begin to develop self-help training programs and software to counter task-related stresses and psycho-social problems that affect team performance.
"I'm optimistic that the kinds of findings we'll have will not just relate to team decision-making in space, but also have applications for exploration on Earth and for companies that do business internationally," Fischer says.
The Antarctica scenario, developed from a previous version of Aptima simulation software, is well-suited for application to space missions, she adds.
"The specific task doesn't matter because it has the right characteristics of a space-based task," Fischer explains. "The team members have to collaborate. They may not be in the same places. They are working to save lives. So this scenario in Antarctica would induce the same sort of stress. It is a complex task."
courtesy of NASA
For more information, contact Ute Fischer, School of Literature, Communication and Culture, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332-0165. (Telephone: 404-894-7627) (E-mail: ute.fischer@lcc.gatech.edu); or Judith Orasanu, NASA Ames Research Center, System Safety Research Branch, 262-4, Moffett Field, CA 94035. (Telephone: 415-604-3404) (E-mail: jorasanu@mail.arc.nasa.gov)
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Last updated: August 11, 2003