Changes in Individual and Team Cognition in High Stress Extreme Underwater Saturation Environment Under Intense Workload

The objective of this study was to measure potential changes in cognitive function in response to living in an extreme underwater habitat. Chronic high stress and intense workload can affect individual and team cognition. As such, associated variables were monitored during the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation (NEEMO) 23 mission at the Aquarius reef Base in June 2019. Individual cognition was measured on 6 subjects (2 males, 4 females) with 8 tests using a battery of cognitive assessments (Joggle Research platform), 1 day pre‐mission, at mid‐point of the mission and 1 day post‐mission. In addition, 4 cognitive tests were applied on 5 subjects (2 males, 3 females) at the beginning of Extravehicular Activities (EVA) and at the end of EVAs that lasted for ~3 to 5 hours. To monitor changes in stress level, Short Stress State Questionnaire (SSSQ) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD7) scores were collected. Effects of workload on performance were measured by NASA Task Load Index (TLX). Changes in team cognition was monitored using an assessment of cognitive process measures. There was a trend of increasing performance in individual cognition in‐habitat and post mission, compared to baseline. The NBACK test, a measure of working memory, significantly improved during the mission, compared to pre‐mission and it further improved post‐mission. The psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) results were non‐significantly lower during the mission. The Motor Praxis Task (MPT) scores decreased at the beginning of EVA and further decreased by the end of EVA. The end of EVA MPT performance was significantly lower, compared to baseline, in habitat, and post mission measurements, suggesting that long duration extravehicular activity had a significant negative effect on sensory motor speed. BART scores were significantly lower at the beginning of EVA, compared to baseline, suggesting that risk taking decreased with the start of the EVA. The PVT score was significantly lower at the end of EVA, compared to baseline, in habitat, and the beginning of EVA, suggesting that the long duration EVAs had negative effect on the ability to quickly respond to the sudden appearance of a stimuli. A trend of increasing GAD7 scores at half time of the mission and post‐mission could be observed. There were differences in NASA TLX and team cognition scores between subjects and at different time points. The present results suggests that sub‐components individual and team cognitive functions may be differently affected during this extreme environment mission. Further research is needed to isolate which cognitive functions might be altered and how these may be correlated with stress level and workload to affect mission success. Support or Funding Information Ketone Technologies LLC provided partial funding for the experiments. SIFT provided partial salary for CA.