The NASA Performance Assessment Workstation: cognitive performance during head-down bed rest.

The NASA Performance Assessment Workstation was used to assess cognitive performance changes in eight males subjected to seventeen days of 6 degrees head-down bed rest. PAWS uses six performance tasks to assess directed and divided attention, spatial, mathematical, and memory skills, and tracking ability. Subjective scales assess overall fatigue and mood state.

Cognitive performance aboard the life and microgravity spacelab.

The impact of microgravity and other stressors on cognitive performance need to be quantified before long duration space flights are planned or attempted since countermeasures may be required. Four astronauts completed 38 sessions of a 20-minute battery of six cognitive performance tests on a laptop computer. Twenty-four sessions were preflight, 9 sessions were in-orbit, and 5 sessions were postflight.

Effects of pyridostigmine bromide on in-flight aircrew performance.

The effects of a chemical defense pretreatment drug, pyridostigmine bromide (PB), on in-flight aircrew performance were assessed using the Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS) aircraft. TIFS was used to supply appropriate control dynamics, handling characteristics, and cockpit instrumentation for a tactical transport airdrop simulation. Twenty-one C-130 pilots flew two familiarization and four data flights.