Effects of total sleep deprivation on performance in a manual spacecraft docking task

This study investigated the effects of 24 hours of total sleep deprivation on performance in a simulated manual spacecraft docking task and the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT). Sixty-two participants completed both tasks under sleep-deprived and well-rested conditions. Sleep deprivation significantly decreased docking accuracy only at higher difficulty levels, and PVT performance deteriorated. Impairments in PVT response speed correlated with docking accuracy decrements. The findings suggest that sleep deprivation impairs complex operational performance, partly due to impaired sustained attention, although motivation may mitigate effects at easier task levels. The 6df docking simulation shows promise as a tool for detecting sleep loss-related impairments.

Sarah Piechowski, Lennard J. Kalkoffen, Sibylle Benderoth, Oliver T. Wolf, Jörn Rittweger, Daniel Aeschbach, Christian Mühl