Microgravity induces overconfidence in perceptual decision-making

Does gravity affect decision-making? This question comes into sharp focus as plans for interplanetary human space missions solidify. In the framework of Bayesian brain theories, gravity encapsulates a strong prior, anchoring agents to a reference frame via the vestibular system, informing their deci...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2023-06, Vol.13 (1), p.9727-9727, Article 9727
Main Authors: Loued-Khenissi, Leyla, Pfeiffer, Christian, Saxena, Rupal, Adarsh, Shivam, Scaramuzza, Davide
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/477
631/477/2811
Bayesian analysis
Computer applications
Decision making
Human factors
Humanities and Social Sciences
Microgravity
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Vestibular system
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Summary:Does gravity affect decision-making? This question comes into sharp focus as plans for interplanetary human space missions solidify. In the framework of Bayesian brain theories, gravity encapsulates a strong prior, anchoring agents to a reference frame via the vestibular system, informing their decisions and possibly their integration of uncertainty. What happens when such a strong prior is altered? We address this question using a self-motion estimation task in a space analog environment under conditions of altered gravity. Two participants were cast as remote drone operators orbiting Mars in a virtual reality environment on board a parabolic flight, where both hyper- and microgravity conditions were induced. From a first-person perspective, participants viewed a drone exiting a cave and had to first predict a collision and then provide a confidence estimate of their response. We evoked uncertainty in the task by manipulating the motion’s trajectory angle. Post-decision subjective confidence reports were negatively predicted by stimulus uncertainty, as expected. Uncertainty alone did not impact overt behavioral responses (performance, choice) differentially across gravity conditions. However microgravity predicted higher subjective confidence, especially in interaction with stimulus uncertainty. These results suggest that variables relating to uncertainty affect decision-making distinctly in microgravity, highlighting the possible need for automatized, compensatory mechanisms when considering human factors in space research.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-36775-0