Virtual Reality Adaptive Training for Personalized Stress Inoculation.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a personalized adaptive training program designed for stress prevention using graduated stress exposure. BACKGROUND: Astronauts in the high-risk space mission environment are prone to performance-impairing stress responses, making preemptive stress inoculation essential for their training. METHODS: This work developed an adaptive virtual reality-based system that adjusts environmental stressors based on real-time stress indicators to optimize training stress levels. Sixty-five healthy subjects underwent task training in one of three groups: skill-only (no stressors), fixed-graduated (prescheduled stressor changes), and adaptive. Psychological (subjective stress, task engagement, distress, worry, anxiety, and workload) and physiological (heart rate, heart rate variability, blood pressure, and electrodermal activity) responses were measured. RESULTS: The adaptive condition showed a significant decrease in heart rate and a decreasing trend in heart rate variability ratio, with no changes in the other training conditions. Distress showed a decreasing trend for the graduated and adaptive conditions. Task engagement showed a significant increase for adaptive and a significant decrease for the graduated condition. All training conditions showed a significant decrease in worry and anxiety and a significant increase in the other heart rate variability metrics. CONCLUSION: Although all training conditions mitigated some stress, the preponderance of trial effects for the adaptive condition supports that it is more successful at decreasing stress. APPLICATION: The integration of real-time personalized stress exposure within a VR-based training program not only prepares individuals for high-stress situations by preemptively mitigating stress but also customizes stressor levels to the crew member's current state, potentially enhancing resilience to future stressors.

Effects of a Passive Back-Support Exosuit on Postural Control and Cognitive Performance During a Fatigue-Inducing Posture Maintenance Task.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of passive back-support exosuit on postural control and cognitive performance during a fatigue-inducing posture maintenance task. BACKGROUND: Wearable support systems (exoskeletons/exosuits) reduce physical demands but may also influence postural control and cognitive performance by reducing muscular fatigue. METHOD: Eighteen participants visited on two different days to test an exosuit system and performed dual-task cognitive assessments based on human information processing (information acquisition, information integration, and action implementation) while maintaining a 35° trunk flexion posture for 16 minutes. Center-of-pressure (CoP), cognitive performance, and perceived workload were recorded, while erector spinae muscle activity was captured to quantify muscle fatigue. RESULTS: The exosuit was effective in reducing erector spinae muscle fatigue during the static posture maintenance task (61% less in Δmedian frequency: -9.5 Hz (EXO-Off) versus -3.7 Hz (EXO-On)). The fatigue-inducing task increased CoP velocity as a function of time (29% greater: 9.3 mm/sec (pre) versus 12.0 mm/sec (post)), and exosuit use decreased CoP velocity (23% less: 12.1 mm/sec (EXO-Off) versus 9.4 mm/sec (EXO-On)). The exosuit was also effective at mitigating cognitive degradation, as evidenced by a higher hit-to-signal ratio (8% greater: 81.3 (EXO-Off) versus 87.9 (EXO-On)) in the information integration task and reducing perceived workload in all stages of human information processing. CONCLUSION: Exosuit provided benefits of postural control and information integration processing during a 16-min static posture maintenance task. APPLICATION: Torso exoskeletons/suits can have positive implications for occupations with concurrent physical and cognitive demands.

Creating augmented reality-based experiences for aviation weather training: Challenges, opportunities, and design implications for 3D authoring.

This paper examines opportunities and challenges of integrating augmented reality (AR) into education and investigates requirements to enable instructors to author AR educational experiences. Although AR technology is recognised for its potential in educational enhancement, it poses challenges for instructors creating AR-based experiences due to their limited digital skills and the complexity of 3D authoring tools. Semi-structured interviews with 17 aviation instructors identified current pedagogical approaches, gaps, and potential applications of AR in aviation weather education. Additionally, results highlighted the benefits of AR and obstacles to its integration into education, followed by outlining design priorities and user needs for educational AR authoring. For AR authoring toolkit development, this study recommended incorporating interactive AR lesson modules, early development of user requirements, and prebuilt AR modules. Findings will guide the development of a 3D authoring toolkit for non-technologist instructors, enabling wider AR use in aviation weather education and other educational fields.

Research interviews with aviation instructors were conducted to derive design implications of AR authoring toolkits for non-technologist instructors. Key findings highlighted gaps in aviation weather education, potential AR applications, and barriers to AR in education. Design recommendations emphasised incorporating interactive AR lesson modules, initial user requirements, and prebuilt AR modules.