Virtual Reality Adaptive Training for Personalized Stress Inoculation.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate a personalized adaptive training program designed for stress prevention using graduated stress exposure.

BACKGROUND

Astronauts in the high-risk space mission environment are prone to performance-impairing stress responses, making preemptive stress inoculation essential for their training.

METHODS

This work developed an adaptive virtual reality-based system that adjusts environmental stressors based on real-time stress indicators to optimize training stress levels. Sixty-five healthy subjects underwent task training in one of three groups: (no stressors), (prescheduled stressor changes), and . Psychological (subjective stress, task engagement, distress, worry, anxiety, and workload) and physiological (heart rate, heart rate variability, blood pressure, and electrodermal activity) responses were measured.

RESULTS

The condition showed a significant decrease in heart rate and a decreasing trend in heart rate variability ratio, with no changes in the other training conditions. Distress showed a decreasing trend for the and conditions. Task engagement showed a significant increase for and a significant decrease for the condition. All training conditions showed a significant decrease in worry and anxiety and a significant increase in the other heart rate variability metrics.

CONCLUSION

Although all training conditions mitigated some stress, the preponderance of trial effects for the condition supports that it is more successful at decreasing stress.

APPLICATION

The integration of real-time personalized stress exposure within a VR-based training program not only prepares individuals for high-stress situations by preemptively mitigating stress but also customizes stressor levels to the crew member's current state, potentially enhancing resilience to future stressors.