A training methodology for spatial orientation in spacecraft

Abstract

This thesis investigates a way to use virtual reality techniques to teach space vehicle inhabitants about the configuration of their craft so that their performance in orientation and spatial memory tasks is improved. An "adjacency training" method was developed that taught connections between landmarks in two joined modules with inconsistent visual verticals by emphasizing functional relationships among adjacent surfaces within and between modules. An experiment was performed (n = 17) that compared this training with a control treatment that emphasized the rotational relationship between the two modules as a whole rather than connections between individual surfaces. On average, adjacency training was not effective in decreasing the total time to respond or increasing the accuracy in placement and orientation of module walls between the two modules. Adjacency trained subjects were significantly better in responding to a novel perspective. All subjects responded to an orienting cue surface more quickly when visually upright, suggesting their spatial knowledge of both groups remained orientation dependent.

(cont.) However, within each group, subjects who used a "consistent visualization" as determined by a post training questionnaire, performed 5 seconds faster (F(1,9)=7.41, p= 0.02) than the subjects who did not. Visualization consistency was determined by asking the subjects to describe which direction they considered one module to be when viewed from the other module and then the reverse. Consistent responses indicated that the subjects were able to combine/concatenate their cognitive mental maps of each of the modules and make correct, consistent judgments in a single allocentric coordinate frame. Subjects who reported consistent visualization were distributed evenly among both training groups, so the training manipulation had no clear effect on the consistency of visualization achieved. The adjacency training method did help subjects remember the relationship between objects on which they had been specifically trained, as determined by a subsequent post-training questionnaire.