Cognitive performance, fatigue, emotional, and physiological strains in simulated long-duration flight missions

Abstract

Pilots in long-duration flight missions in single-seat aircraft may be affected by fatigue. This study determined associations between cognitive performance, emotions and physiological activation and deactivation – measured by heart rate variability (HRV) – in a simulated 11-h flight mission in the 39 Gripen aircraft. Twelve participants volunteered for the study. Perceived fatigue was measured by the Samn-Perelli Fatigue Index (SPFI). Cognitive performance was measured by non-executive and executive tasks. Emotions were assessed by the Circumplex Affect Space instrument. HRV was considered in relation to the cognitive tasks in four time points – Hours 3, 5, 7, 9 – and their associations with emotional ratings. Results indicated a decrease in performance in the non-executive task after approximately 7 h. This result was correlated with self-reported measures of fatigue. HRV, assessed by indices of parasympathetic modulation, remained unchanged for both non-executive and executive tasks over time ( p > .05 for all). Significant correlations were observed between emotions and HRV; with increased boredom, increased passiveness, decreased stimulation, and decreased activeness, HRV indicators increased ( p < .05). This suggests that a low self-regulatory effort for maintaining performance in these conditions was prevalent and that pilots could adapt to some degree to the demands and fatigue of long-duration missions.

Pilot Behavior Recognition Based on Multi-Modality Fusion Technology Using Physiological Characteristics

“…The trends in physiological parameters were consistent with previous studies [ 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ]. Nevertheless, the results showed slight differences in ULF compared to some studies [ 9 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ] which believed that ULF cannot reflect a human’s workload level. After further literature research and analysis, our results were found to be justified.…”

Effects of Fatigue and Tension on the Physical Characteristics and Abilities of Young Air Traffic Controllers

“…The effects of fatigue on abilities during work could be analyzed according to the analysis results. Compared with the previous research [1,14], this study showed the effect of fatigue on abilities with new indicators. All the research revealed the adverse effects of fatigue on ATCOs.…”

“…The effects of fatigue generally tend to be a continuum ranging from mild to severe and disabling manifestations such as exhaustion, overstrain, and chronic fatigue syndrome [13]. Under the influence of fatigue, people's alertness, motor skills, reflex ability, judgment, cognitive performance and decision-making will be impaired [1,14]. It has been proven that heart rate and heart rate variability were also highly correlated with fatigue [15,16].…”

Cognitive Fatigue in Habitual Video Gamers and Non-gamers among Military Pilots in Training

“…Studies focusing on cognitive fatigue and mental workload in aviation have been conducted in flight simulators or during actual flight duties (McMahon & Newman, 2018;Wang et al, 2020;Rosa et al, 2022). However, the equipment must be able to sustain a G-force and fit in a confined space, the procedure during actual flight duties is extremely difficult and costinhibitive.…”