Science Report
12/31/2012
Noah Feaster
I am conducting human factors research that will focus on crewmember anxiety and tension levels and how they are affected by playing games. I chose games as my testing protocol since they are currently considered a coping method for stress. Games are an easy and cheap stress management method that can be included into future missions as well. Anxiety and tension are obvious factors to consider for a long duration manned mission to Mars. Crewmember anxiety and tension will be measured using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire. My first goal of this research is to compare how board games and electronic games affect anxiety and tension levels during periods of isolation and confinement. The second goal of this research is to compare single player and multiplayer games in order to determine if one is more successful at reducing tension and anxiety than the other.
A total of six sessions will be conducted throughout the two week expedition on Mars. Today, December 31st, was the first testing day of group gaming sessions. We played a group card game titled Apples to Apples for a total of one hour. After the game session all six crewmembers completed the POMS questionnaire. The remaining five sessions will rotate every other day, and will not be conducted on the weekends. There will be three group game sessions in total, and are comprised of two board game sessions and one electronic game session. All of the group gaming sessions will last one hour. The remaining three sessions will all be single player games, and will last for a total of forty minutes. The single player games will be a rotation of both non-electronic and electronic games. After each game session the six crewmembers will complete the POMS questionnaire.