Effects of Reduced and Hyper Gravity on Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Instrumentation

Both hardware and protocol improvements are being investigated for the promising application of Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in flight situations in order to assess whether or not a crew member’s cognitive awareness has been impaired. fNIRS is an emerging technique which indirectly measures neuronal activity in the cortex via neurovascular coupling: neurovascular activity patterns can indicate cognitive state. It is non-invasive, relatively portable, inexpensive, and safe for long-term monitoring and repeated measurements. fNIRS exploits the principle that optical absorption changes with blood oxygenation levels through the hemodynamic response.
Paper (Aug 2013): Effects of Varying Gravity Levels on fNIRS Headgear Performance and Signal Recovery
Paper (Dec 2014): Toward Adaptation of fNIRS Instrumentation to Airborne Environments Problem Statement To measure the optical absorption changes along paths through the skin to the brain and back, fNIRS headgear must deliver and collect light at the scalp. Despite the continuing improvement of various research laboratory-based and commercial instrumentation, hardware currently used to couple optical signals to the scalp behind the hairline is bulky, uncomfortable to painful, susceptible to motion artifact and interference from the hair, not expeditiously self-applicable and not readily integrable with existing environments (for example, cockpits and pilot headsets). Reducing such difficulties consistently encountered by those in both industry and academia who uses fNIRS is a design-driven aim. The environment aboard the reduced gravity aircraft provides a platform for testing fNIRS headgear at varying g and vibration levels.

The lack of reliable and self-applicable headgear robust to the influence of motion artifact blocks its operational use in aerospace environments. It is difficult to separate changes due to functional activation from changes due to motion. Both NASA’s Aviation Safety and Human Research Programs may be potential users of this technology. Future Customers Benefits to NASA are numerous in the disciplines of space exploration and aviation safety. fNIRS could be used to detect cognitive state for pilot or astronaut crew training or to optimize human performance during operations. The success of these efforts to produce “next generation” fNIRS headgear would bring the benefits of the fNIRS technique out of the controlled laboratory and into operational environments, enabling in-task monitoring of crew reaction during safety-critical tasks.

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