Effect of Reduced Pressure on Human Performance

In: Human factors: the journal of the Human Factors Society, Volume 9, Issue 5, p. 409-418

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether reduced pressure (1.5 psi) versus ambient pressure (14.7 psi) had a differential effect on man's performance in a pressurized (3.7 psi) Apollo suit. Two subjects were tested on three different types of tasks: psychomotor, a lunar mission-specific task, and walking. The results of this study gave support to the hypothesis that it would require greater effort to complete the same tasks in the reduced pressure condition than in the ambient pressure condition. During the reduced pressure condition, an increase in total time, total errors, heart rate, and carbon dioxide production was consistently observed over the ambient condition. These findings are considered preliminary, and future research is required to substantiate the conclusion that reduced pressure associated with the space environment negatively affects human performance.