Abstract
A human performance measurement system is described in terms of apparatus components, mini- and micro-computer control of test administration and data analysis, and experimental applications. At present, computer programs have been tested to administer and score twenty five performance tests, which were selected, modified, and/or developed to assess relatively independent perceptual, memory, cognitive, and psychomotor abilities. In the first experimental use of the system, six subjects were administered different subgroups of from three to five tests throughout one or both of two hyperbaric exposures while breathing normoxic helium. The first dive was to 1200 fsw (equivalent feet of sea water); the second, to 1600 fsw. In the second experiment, test standardization is proceeding with a group of young, adult males and with a larger and more heterogeneous adult group. Under normal laboratory conditions, equivalent forms of these tests are being compared with marker tests. The third experiment evaluates the effects upon an individual subject's pattern of abilities of changes in composition of inspired gases at sea level, in this case, changes in concentrations of N2O and O2. Future directions of development and application of this system are discussed.
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