What a great day at MDRS! We wrapped up our simulation last night when our colleagues from University of Colorado arrived. We spent the morning in the Science Dome telling the rest of the team about our time in Sim and what we learned in our pilot studies with our neurophysiological sensors. We took time this afternoon to scout several locations on the rovers, and it was amazing to see the dinosaur fossils with the rest of the team. We ran our final study of the trip this afternoon: We had two team members head out on an EVA and they were wearing fNIRS brain measurement devices and eye tracking glasses. We collected their brain and eye tracking data while they navigated to a waypoint near Kissing Camel rock. We collected what is called ‘hyperscanning’ brain data, which is where you look at the brain synchronization between teammembers; in general team members who are working well together (high in team cohesion) will have more synchronization patterns. We wrapped up our day with a delicious pasta dinner and brownies in the Hab. The Sim team heads home tomorrow. Next up is the Univ Colorado field course at MDRS. Thanks for a wonderful sim experience, MDRS! We learned a ton and are already talking about our next trip back!
Leanne Hirshfield, Emily Doherty, James Crum, and Marta Čeko