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The Primate Psychomotor Test System consists of the display-response panel and the logic and control unit. The system is designed to test the monkey in two behavioral tasks: one involves delayed matching of symbols for testing of recent memory and perception; the other tests coordination of eye and hand in detecting coincidence of two rapidly rotating objects. Correct responses for either task arms the Pellet Feeder Dispenser with a food reward.
Panel: The psychomotor panel is positioned directly in front of the animal, positioned for easy reach and eye focus. The apparatus consists of five switches and two overlapping revolving disks. The panel displays the Nixie tube switches for the delayed matching task and the rotating concentric discs for the visuomotor task.
Logic and Control Unit: The psychomotor logic and control unit is a separate capsule component and contains the electronics for the psychomotor task operations and its associated data formatting. This "housing" also has control interfaces with a number of spacecraft components within the capsule, such as the camera, tape recorder, and feeder.
Behavioral Tasks: Twenty trials of delayed matching task are nominally followed by twenty trials of visuomotor task. Nominally each trial lasts forty-five seconds. Either task can be initiated or canceled by ground command. Every correct response produces a brief flash of the secondary reward lamp, located near the psychomotor panel. A food pellet can be obtained by operating the feeder lever arm after every second correct response. A maximum of forty pellets per day can be obtained from successful task performance.
Delayed Matching (DM) Task: The five switches for use in the DM task are transparent windows with overlaying neon tubes capable of displaying symbols. During each DM trial, the animal is required to respond by touching the center window display (A) within five seconds thereby extinguishing the display. The symbol presented in the center display is selected randomly from a set of four (square, X, circle, triangle). Approximately eighteen seconds later, the four symbols are displayed in a random pattern in the peripheral windows (B, C, D, E). In a correct response, the subject touches the window displaying the symbol matching the just extinguished symbol of window A. Incorrect choice or non-response to either presentation extinguishes the display and terminates the trial.
Visuomotor (VM) Task: In the VM task, two plastic disks lie one in front of the other and rotate in the same direction at approximately 85 revolutions per minute. The front disk is transparent to permit the subject to track a button on the rear disk. This button is exposed when the hole on the surface disk coincides with it. The subject presses the button for correct response at coincidence. Coincidence occurs approximately every two seconds during the trial.
Dimensions: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Power: Unknown
•Biosatellite Project Historical Summary Report. J.W. Dyer, ed., NASA TM-X-72394, December 1969.
•Adey, W.R., et al.: Biosatellite III: Preliminary Findings. Science, vol. 166, no. 3904, October 1969, pp. 492Ð493.
•Adey, W.R. and P.M. Hahn: IntroductionÑBiosatellite III Results. Aerospace Medicine, vol. 42, March 1971, pp. 273-280.