THIS PROJECT STUDY SETS OUT TO ADDRESS A BIOMEDICAL PROBLEM (THE SPACE ADAPTATION SYNDROME) BY COMBINING TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE IN PERCEPTUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING.

THIS PROJECT STUDY SETS OUT TO ADDRESS A BIOMEDICAL PROBLEM (THE SPACE ADAPTATION SYNDROME) BY COMBINING TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE IN PERCEPTUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING. ALTHOUGH MOTION SICKNESS-LIKE SYMPTOMS HAVE OCCURRED IN ABOUT HALF OF THE SPACE TRAVELLERS IN NASA'S SHUTTLE AND SKYLAB PROGRAMS, ALL OR NEARLY ALL HAVE ADAPTED WHILE ALOFT. THIS PROJECT WILL UNDERTAKE A LITERATURE REVIEW AS WELL AS CONDUCT AN EXPERIMENT ON THE ADAPTATION PROCESS. THE PRIMARY PURPOSE WILL BE TO DETERMINE WHETHER LAWFUL RELATIONSHIPS GOVERN TRANSFER OF LEARNED BEHAVIORS FROM ONE SET OF STIMULUS CONDITIONS TO ANOTHER. THE SECONDARY OBJECTIVE WILL BE TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT TO WHICH CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS POSSESS GREATER FACILITY AT ADAPTING TO ALTERED PERCEPTUAL STIMULI THAN OTHERS. A TRADITIONAL PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR REARRANGEMENT STUDY (USING PRISMATIC DISPLACEMENT) WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO A TRADITIONAL HUMAN FACTORS PROBLEM (TRACKING PERFORMANCE WITH A SET OF INCOMPATIBLE CONTROL DISPLAY RELATIONSHIPS).