%0 Journal Article 
%A González de la Torre Benítez, Gabriel
%A Ramallo Luna, Miguel Ángel
%A López Ramírez, Juan Antonio
%A González de la Torre Muñoz, Sara
%A Parro, Victorino
%A Lominchar, Miguel A.
%A García Villadangos, Miriam
%A Carrasco Gómez, Martín
%A Zarandona Palacio, Pedro José
%A Claeys, Kato
%A Avila Rauch, Celia
%A Mintus, Agata
%A Ceballos, David
%A Violadé, Carlos
%A Ramirez, Cristina
%A Ráčková, Lucie
%T Cognitive performance and psychological wellbeing in hybrid human-robot crews in space analog missions: The delayed unwinding paradox
%D 2027
%@ 0094-5765
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10498/40337
%X Background
The integration of UAVs and AI assistants into human exploration teams introduces both operational benefits and novel psychophysiological demands. As planetary exploration missions increasingly rely on human-robot collaboration, understanding the cognitive and psychological consequences of hybrid operational work becomes a critical priority for crew health and mission success. This study examines cognitive performance and psychological wellbeing in a Hybrid Team (n = 6) during a multi-day cave analog mission, comparing results against a pooled Non-Hybrid Teams dataset (N = 45; 8 missions).
Methods
NASA TLX (Task Load Index), WinSCAT cognitive assessment (pre, mid, post-mission), DASS-21, and POMS were administered at Astroland Ares Station (Cantabria, Spain). Mission operations incorporated UAV systems and simulated 7-min one-way Mars communication delays with Mission Control. Between-group comparisons used Mann-Whitney U tests; within-group longitudinal changes used Wilcoxon signed-rank and Friedman tests.
Results
The Hybrid Team showed significantly higher pre-mission sustained attention (CPT: 95.9 ± 1.4% vs 81.7 ± 18.4%; U = 200, p = .010, r = 0.67) and stable cognitive performance across all WinSCAT subtests. Non-Hybrid Teams showed significant CPT improvement over time (χ2 = 12.47, p = .002). Post-mission tension was significantly elevated in the Hybrid Team vs Non-Hybrid Teams (39.7 vs 32.4; p = .005) despite Non-Hybrid Teams showing significant tension reduction (p < .001). Fatigue increased in the Hybrid Team post-mission (W = 1, p = .094) while decreasing in Non-Hybrid Teams (p = .013).
Conclusions
Hybrid Team integration preserves cognitive performance but produced a post-mission unwinding failure pattern characterized by sustained activation that prevented emotional deactivation. Implications for recovery protocols and hybrid mission design are discussed.
%K NASA-TLX
%K WinSCAT
%K Hybrid teams
%K UAV
%K Space analogs
%K Cognitive performance
%K POMS
%K Unwinding
%K Workload
%~ Universidad de Cádiz