Two Dartmouth faculty members, Jay Buckey of Dartmouth Medical School and James Carter, a researcher at Dartmouth's Interactive Media Lab, are developing unique software that will be used to help astronauts deal with varying psychological problems while in space.
The program's goals include "prevention, assessment, and intervention," according to Carter.
Both he and Buckey stressed that the program is not designed to diagnose, but rather to indicate potential psychological problems that might arise over a long flight.
"The system will never tell you what to do," Buckey said. "It's designed to be a sort of interactive self-help book."
Accordingly, the software also includes interviews with experts and possible strategies for coping with various problems.
Buckey and Carter have already written up the sections of the program dealing with depression and conflict. They plan to refine these sections and then work on developing parts of the program which deal with other psychological problems astronauts might experience.
Carter said that the software is designed to deal with varying levels of psychological problems.
For example, the software is not intended to deal only with clinical depression, but also to prevent and treat less severe forms of depression which could nonetheless affect an astronaut's performance.
Both Carter and Buckey emphasized that their software would only be one component of a much broader system for ensuring the psychological health of astronauts while on voyages.
Astronauts already have to undergo extensive psychological testing before going into space and spend much time training together as a group so as to prevent conflict while on board the ship, they said.
Carter was excited about the possible uses the new software might have for a broader market.
"This is a good example of where technology for the space program might be applicable to the general public," he said.
For instance, he noted the relevance of interactive software for depression management for a wider audience.
He also cited studies comparing the effectiveness and results of computer and human psychological assessments.
"On pretty much all studies, people are actually likely to volunteer more information to computers," Carter said.
While nobody has been able to establish exactly why this is so, most researchers have noted that subjects tend to be less concerned about volunteering embarrassing or sensitive information to a computer, and also that computers are necessarily more thorough than humans.
"Human psychologists make assumptions about what questions they should and shouldn't ask," Carter said. "Computers, for good or bad, don't."