Measurement Methodology for Perceptual-Motor Performance under Highly Transient Extreme Heat Stress

The existing state of the art for handling human performance under transient heat stress has been reviewed. It was concluded that it is necessary to develop a new methodology based on “micro-performance” measurements to assess severe localized transient heat stresses relevant to contemporary flight problems. The test procedure proposed is based on the rationale that a primary task, with difficulty that can be varied according to subject error in order to maintain a relatively constant subject performance level, can be used as a measure of the moment-to-moment perceptual load. In addition to the primary task, secondary tasks are suggested to help simulate problems in decision-making and verbal communication.