Allison Anderson

Allison Anderson
University of Colorado Boulder | CUB · Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences (AES)

Doctor of Philosophy

About

79
Publications
30,898
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1,173
Citations

Publications

Publications (79)
Article
How misinformation afects cognition and behaviour is of increasing interest. Research has identifed predictors of susceptibility, but how they play out during real-world behaviour remains unclear. We urge misinformation neuroscience researchers to prioritize ecological validity by collecting data across the ecological spectrum.
Article
INTRODUCTION: Adding noise to a system to improve a weak signal's detectability is known as stochastic resonance (SR). SR has been shown to improve sensory perception and cognitive performance in certain individuals, but it is unknown whether this performance improvement can translate to meaningful macrocognitive enhancements in performance for com...
Article
Full-text available
Background The uncertain environments of future space missions means that astronauts will need to acquire new skills rapidly; thus, a non-invasive method to enhance learning of complex tasks is desirable. Stochastic resonance (SR) is a phenomenon where adding noise improves the throughput of a weak signal. SR has been shown to improve perception an...
Article
Full-text available
Background Adding noise to a system to improve a weak signal’s throughput is known as stochastic resonance (SR). SR has been shown to improve sensory perception. Some limited research shows noise can also improve higher order processing, such as working memory, but it is unknown whether SR can broadly improve cognition. Objective We investigated c...
Article
BACKGROUND: Surface extravehicular activity (sEVA) will be a critical component of future human missions to the Moon. sEVA presents novel risks to astronaut crews not associated with microgravity operations due to fundamental differences in task demands, physiology, environment, and operations of working on the lunar surface. Multimodal spacesuit i...
Article
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Objective Microbial dysbiosis, a shift from commensal to pathogenic microbiota, is often associated with mental health and the gut–brain axis, where dysbiosis in the gut may be linked to dysfunction in the brain. Many studies focus on dysbiosis induced by clinical events or traumatic incidents; however, many professions in austere or demanding envi...
Article
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Objective We use a set of unobtrusive measures to estimate subjectively reported trust, mental workload, and situation awareness (henceforth “TWSA”). Background Subjective questionnaires are commonly used to assess human cognitive states. However, they are obtrusive and usually impractical to administer during operations. Measures derived from act...
Article
Full-text available
The detection of psychological stress using the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is most commonly based on the detection of the R peak—the most prominent part of the ECG waveform—and the heart rate variability (HRV) measurements derived from it. For stress detection algorithms focused on short-duration time windows, there is potential benefit in incl...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction: Entry into weightlessness results in a fluid shift and a loss of hydrostatic gradients. These factors are believed to affect the eye and contribute to the ocular changes that occur in space. We measured eye parameters during fluid shifts produced by lower body negative pressure (LBNP) and lower body positive pressure (LBPP) and change...
Article
INTRODUCTION: Heel-lift is a subjectively reported fit issue in planetary spacesuit boot prototypes that has not yet been quantified. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) could quantify heel-lift but are susceptible to integration drift. This work evaluates the use of IMUs and drift-correction algorithms, such as zero-velocity (ZVUs) and zero-position...
Article
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An astronaut developed a left-sided internal jugular vein (IJV) thrombosis while in orbit, likely due to reduced IJV blood flow. We hypothesized that microgravity-induced flow reductions would be greatest on the non-dominant (usually left) side thereby increasing thrombosis risk. A Simulink®-based lumped parameter model (LPM) was used to explore ca...
Article
Introduction Isolated, confined, extreme (ICE) environments are accompanied by a host of stress-inducing circumstances: operational pressure, interpersonal dynamics, limited communication with friends and family, and environmental hazards. We evaluated the effectiveness of attention-restoration-therapy-based immersive Virtual Reality (VR) in three...
Article
Background: Astronauts live and work in isolated, confined, extreme (ICE) environments that create both high stress and the need for high performance. The COVID-19 pandemic created ICE-like conditions across the globe by confining people to their homes under the ever-present threat of disease. Our goal is to understand the impact of prior experien...
Article
Background Stochastic resonance (SR) is achieved when a faint signal is improved with the addition of the appropriate amount of white noise. Perceptual thresholds are expected to follow a characteristic performance improvement curve as a function of the white noise level added (i.e., thresholds are reduced with an optimal amount of added white nois...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Recently, an astronaut developed a left-sided internal jugular vein (IJV) thrombosis while in orbit, likely due to reduced IJV blood flow. We hypothesized that microgravity-induced flow reductions would be greatest on the non-dominant (usually left) side thereby increasing thrombosis risk. In a novel analysis, a Simulink®-based lumped parameter mod...
Article
Full-text available
Wearable physiological monitoring systems are becoming increasingly prevalent in the push toward autonomous health monitoring and offer new modalities for playful and purposeful interaction within human computer interaction (HCI). Sensing systems that can be integrated into garments and, therefore, daily activities offer promising pathways toward u...
Article
Alternative reality (XR) technologies, including physical, augmented, hybrid, and virtual reality, offer ways for engineered spaces to be evaluated. Traditionally, practitioners (such as those designing spacecraft habitats) have relied on physical mockups to perform such design evaluations, but digital XR technologies present several streamlining a...
Article
Full-text available
Alternative reality (XR) tools are becoming more commonplace in the realm of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC); however, these digitally immersive technologies vary greatly in their degree of virtuality and individual capabilities. While many studies detail the performance of one specific XR technology for a particular use case, lit...
Article
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Internal jugular flow is reduced in space compared with supine values, which can be associated with internal jugular vein (IJV) thrombosis. The mechanism is unknown but important to understand to prevent potentially serious vein thromboses on long duration flights. We used a novel, microgravity-focused numerical model of the cranial vascular circul...
Article
A detailed understanding of foot morphology can enable the design of more comfortable and better fitting footwear. However, foot morphology varies widely within the population, and changes dynamically as the foot is loaded during stance. This study presents a parametric statistical shape model from 4D foot scans to capture both the inter- and intra...
Article
Full-text available
Background Stochastic resonance (SR) refers to a faint signal being enhanced with the addition of white noise. Previous studies have found that vestibular perceptual thresholds are lowered with noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (i.e., “in-channel” SR). Auditory white noise has been shown to improve tactile and visual thresholds, suggesting “cro...
Article
Full-text available
We present a framework for alternative reality (XR) technologies to enable an understanding of what constitutes an XR environment when used in the context of design and engineering of large, complex systems. The framework provides guidelines for implementing the corresponding desired human sensory experience. This work is founded on the existing li...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: Stochastic resonance (SR) refers to a faint signal being enhanced with the addition of white noise. Previous studies have found that vestibular perceptual thresholds are lowered with noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (i.e., "in-channel" SR). Auditory white noise has been shown to improve tactile and visual thresholds, suggesting "cr...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
This paper advocates for adaptive autonomy for future spacecraft habitats through unobtrusive monitoring of human states. We propose to estimate states with models derived from human action and physiology and adapt the system or robot's level of autonomy to improve performance and safety within human-autonomy teams. We discuss the prior work in thi...
Article
INTRODUCTION: Isolated and confined environments (ICEs), such as spaceflight, are challenging psychologically. We have been evaluating self-directed tools to sustain and improve psychological well-being in these settings. The Expedition Application for Peak Psychological Performance (Expedition-APPP) is an interactive media-based set of self-direct...
Preprint
Full-text available
A detailed understanding of foot morphology can enable the design of more comfortable and better fitting footwear. However, foot morphology varies widely within the population, and changes dynamically during the loading of stance phase. This study presents a parametric statistical shape model from 4D foot scans to capture both the inter- and intra-...
Article
The design of exploration class missions that send crews beyond low-Earth orbit has uncovered challenging crew health and performance (CHP) needs not previously faced in human spacef light. The engineers who design and build the medical systems integrated into a habitat and the clinicians who ultimately use those systems to provide care to astronau...
Conference Paper
Electrical signals produced within the human body can reveal information about a wide variety of physiological processes including physical activity, cardiac health, and psychological state. The industry standard for physiological signal detection is the use of adhesive electrodes that stick onto the skin. These electrodes can irritate the skin ove...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Astronauts on future deep space exploration missions will need to maintain excellent performance to ensure safety and mission success. To enhance neurocognitive and task performance, stochastic resonance (SR) may be used to enhance "information transfer" to the brain across multiple sensory modalities, reducing the cognitive workload associated wit...
Article
Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) maps collect DPOAE emissions over a broad range of frequencies and ratios. One application of DPOAE mapping could be monitoring changes in intracranial pressure (ICP) in space, where non-invasive measures of ICP are an area of interest. Data were collected in two experiments to statistically assess ch...
Article
Full-text available
Wearable health-monitoring systems should be comfortable, non-stigmatizing, and able to achieve high data quality. Smart textiles with electronic elements integrated directly into fabrics offer a way to embed sensors into clothing seamlessly to serve these purposes. In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
In this work we develop an augmented reality heads up display for astronaut use during human space operations. This work takes advantage of recent advances in commercial headsup-display technology to simulate information delivery to the astronaut. The primary design objectives were to increase situation awareness (SA), provide timely information to...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Applications of inertial sensing to the study of human motion in ambulatory environments often suffer from a dependence on magnetometers, which are susceptible to nonuni-form and time-varying magnetic disturbances. The current work presents an inertial sensor fusion algorithm that will enable magnetometer-free inertial sensing of human joint kinema...
Article
INTRODUCTION: Although a space suit is a technological feat sustaining human life outside the spacecraft, working in the space suit environment can lead to musculotendon and soft tissue injuries in astronauts. In this literature review, we consider the injury risk mechanisms for human-space suit interactions. We first present a review of space suit...
Thesis
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This Thesis presents a novel hybrid spacesuit architecture concept to enable planetary exploration by combining mechanical counterpressure (MCP) with gas-pressurization (GP). This conceptual design has the potential to offer a quantifiable increase in mobility, increases in safety through pressure layer redundancy, and decreased pre-breathe time to...
Poster
IMU Array Breadboard Prototype • Consists of 8 STMicroelectronics LSM6DSL consumer-grade IMUs • IMUs polled by Raspberry Pi at sampling rates of 50, 100 and 833 Hz over SPI • Static noise data collected and used as input to simulations employing online extended Kalman filter which will inform architecture trade studies IMU Array PCB • Double-sided...
Article
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Introduction: We evaluated the reproducibility of two portable, self-administered autorefractors (Netra and SVOne Pro) to assess the time course of visual changes on the ISS. Methods: We measured cycloplegic refractive error at 5 visits at least a week apart in 13 subjects (6 women, 7 men, 30 ± 9 yr) using both devices seated and also prone with...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction: Artificial gravity (AG) has been proposed as a countermeasure to spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS). The etiology of SANS is unknown, but mimicking gravitational loading through AG may mitigate these negative adaptations. Methods: Seventeen subjects (9M, 8F, 18-32 years) were analyzed in four experimental condition...
Poster
Full-text available
Prolonged exposure to isolated and confined environments (ICEs) can engender conflict, stress, and depression. Computer-or web-delivered psychological training and treatment provide autonomous and confidential behavioral health countermeasures that may be able to alleviate behavioral health problems in ICEs. We assessed acceptability, usability, an...
Poster
Full-text available
Understanding and mitigating astronaut vision impairment following long-term space flight are ongoing goals for NASA. The eye interacts with multiple fluid systems that may lead to the observed vision impairment including the circulatory system, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) system, and the aqueous humor regulatory system. These systems apply force...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
We present a spacesuit architecture to enable planetary exploration of Mars by combining mechanical counterpressure (MCP) with gas-pressurization (GP). To assess the feasibility and benefit of implementing two separate pressure layers in the suit, the design space was narrowed by performing a trade analysis from the following criteria: Mobility; Te...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The fluid shift and loss of hydrostatic forces that occur upon entering microgravity are often presented as key stimuli for some of physiological changes in space. Less often discussed is the effect of tissue weight. Tissue weight and tissue compressive forces are important, and often overlooked, contributors to the physiological changes that occur...
Article
Full-text available
INTRODUCTION: Virtual reality (VR) can provide exposure to nature for those living in isolated confined environments. We evaluated VR-presented natural settings for reducing stress and improving mood. METHODS: There were 18 participants (9 men, 9 women), ages 32 ± 12 yr, who viewed three 15-min 360° scenes (an indoor control, rural Ireland, and re...
Article
Full-text available
Some astronauts are returning from long-duration spaceflight with structural ocular and visual changes. We investigated both the transient and sustained effects of changes in the direction of the gravity vector acting on the eye using changes in body posture. Intraocular pressure (IOP; measured by Perkins tonometer), ocular geometry (axial length,...
Article
Objectives: Hearing loss from ototoxicity is often most pronounced at high frequencies. To improve patient monitoring and compliance, high-frequency testing methods should be short and easy to administer. We evaluated the repeatability and accuracy of a B?k?sy-like, fixed-level frequency threshold (FLFT) technique. This test takes less than a minu...
Article
Full-text available
INTRODUCTION: Living in an isolated, confined environment (ICE) can induce conflict, stress, and depression. Computer-based behavioral health countermeasures are appealing for training and treatment in ICEs because they provide confidentiality and do not require communication with the outside environment. We evaluated the Virtual Space Station (VSS...
Article
Full-text available
Intraocular pressure (IOP) initially increases upon entering microgravity above seated baseline values. This has been attributed to a headward fluid shift increasing venous pressures in the head. The change in IOP exceeds changes measured immediately after moving from seated to supine postures on Earth, where a similar fluid shift is produced. Furt...
Article
Full-text available
Working inside the space suit causes injury and discomfort, but suit assessment techniques such as measuring joint torques and ranges of motion fail to evaluate injury because they fail to distinguish interactions between the human and the space suit. Contact pressure sensing would allow a quantitative assessment of the nature and location of suit-...
Article
Full-text available
Shoulder injuries due to working inside the space suit are some of the most serious and debilitating injuries astronauts encounter. Space suit injuries occur primarily in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) underwater training facility due to accumulated musculoskeletal stress. We quantitatively explored the underlying causal mechanisms of injury...
Article
Full-text available
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) is a critical component of human spaceflight, but working in gas-pressurized space suits causes fatigue, excessive energy expenditure, and injury. Relatively little is known about how the astronaut moves and interacts with the space suit, and what factors lead to injury. A wearable pressure sensing system to quantitati...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Gas-pressurized space suits are incredibly well engineered tools allowing astronauts to perform critical duties. However, current gas pressurized space suits have an inherent stiffness, causing fatigue, unnecessary energy expenditure, and in some instances injury. Prior to this research effort there was no technology allowing the human-space suit i...
Article
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) is a critical component of human spaceflight. Working in gas-pressurized space suits, however, causes fatigue, unnecessary energy expenditure, and injury. The problem of injury is particularly acute and is exacerbated with the additional hours astronauts spend training inside the suit, especially underwater in NASA's N...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Although the U.S. has studied space suit performance for decades, relatively little is known about how the astronaut moves and interacts within the space suit. We propose the use of in-suit sensor systems to characterize this interaction and present our results using pressure sensors and inertial measurement units (IMUs) inside the David Clark Mobi...
Conference Paper
There are multiple challenges associated with extravehicular activity (EVA). The design of a spacesuit requires specific attention to the mobility of astronauts. All of the currently flown spacesuits are gas-pressurized and can perform a wide range of functions. However, the pressurization causes an inherent stiffness, leading to astronaut’s fatigu...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is one of the most critical enabling capabilities for human spaceflight. Performing EVA is both technically challenging and physically demanding, requiring many hours of training and detailed preparation. As a result of working and training in the extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) spacesuit, many astronauts sustain mu...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) is among the most challenging activities in human spaceflight. Maintaining astronaut health and comfort inside the spacesuit is critical to accomplish the tasks required for the mission. However, the current Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit causes many astronauts minor musculoskeletal injuries and discomfor...
Article
Full-text available
Extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalks allows astronauts to accomplish some of the most important endeavors in space history. The importance of EVA will continue to increase as people venture further into our solar system. The spacesuit, used to protect the astronaut during EVA, is an anthropomorphic spacecraft that provides the physical envi...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Since its inception, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been dedicated to education. NASA's challenge is to design a coherent education program that can capitalize on the Agency's diverse set of projects, skill, and missions. This paper reviews the NASA education framework and recommends how to improve guidance to principa...
Conference Paper
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