Authors:
Judith Bütefür
1
;
Julia Habenicht
1
and
Elsa Andrea Kirchner
1
;
2
Affiliations:
1
Institute of Medical Technology Systems, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany
;
2
Robotics Innovation Center, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH), Bremen, Germany
Keyword(s):
Hypergravity, EEG, ECG, EMG, Fine Motor Movements, Simulated Hypergravity.
Abstract:
As the human body has adapted all functions and movements to Earth gravity it has to adapt its functions and movements when gravitational forces increase. Astronauts are for example exposed to increased gravity, i.e., hypergravity, during rocket launches. To prevent security incidents on the missions, it is important to achieve the best possible cognitive and motor performance from the outset, which requires a better understanding of cognition and behavior under hypergravity. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of studies investigating the electroencephalogram (EEG), the electrocardiogram (ECG), muscle activity (EMG) and aiming accuracies in hypergravity as these biosignals are known to capture human cognitive performance and motor performance in order to make a statement about the effect of hypergravity on the human body. The literature review shows that all investigated parameters change under hypergravity. This fact highlights the need for further analysis of how these
changes affect the human body in relation to motor performance. It also shows the need for novel and flexible training methods that allow astronauts to acclimatize to the new gravity conditions without limiting the duration of training, such as when training takes place during a parabolic flight or using a centrifuge. We propose the use of an active upper body exoskeleton as a new and flexile training method.
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