Pol J Aviat Med Bioeng Psychol 2017; 23(3-4): 74-87 CHRONICLE DOI: 10.13174/pjambp.20.12.2018.11 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND IMPLEMENTATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF AVIATION PSYCHOLOGISTS AND SCIENTIFIC CONSULTANCY FROM THE PERSPETIVE OF THE 90 YEARS OF EXISTENCE OF THE MILITARY INSTITUTE OF AVIATION MEDICINE Jan F. TERELAK Source of support: Own sources Author’s address: J. Terelak, Warsaw, Poland, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract: The author of this publication worked at Military Institute of Aviation Medicine (MIAM) in Warsaw in 1968-2018 with a small break. The paper is of a review nature and concerns the presentation of the scientifi c and implementational activities of Polish aviation psy- chologists from the perspective of the last half-century of the existence of the Military Institute of Aviation Medicine in Warsaw. The scientifi c activity includes, among others, empirical research on the assessment of mental and motor skills during tests in fl ight simulators: thermo- and diving chambers and centrifuges, while application research concerns mainly psychometric adaptation of psychological selection of candidates for military aviation and space fl ight and selection of military and civilian pilots. The orga- nizational activity is related to the construction of tests and technical devices for group psychological research. The interdisciplinary nature of research is emphasized, thanks to cooperation of aviation psychologists with many specialists of aviation medicine and bioengineering. Keywords: aviation psychology, fl ight simulators, space psychology, chronopsychology, polar psychology, psychological selection and pilot selection Figures: 14 • References: 58 • Full-text PDF: h p://www.pjambp.com • Copyright © 2017 Polish Avia on Medicine Society, ul. Krasińskiego 54/56, 01-755 Warsaw, license WIML • Indexa on: Index Copernicus, Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Educa on 74 | 2017 | Volume 23 | Issue 3-4 | This is an open-access ar cle distributed under the terms of the Crea ve Commons A ribu on Non-commercial License (h p://crea vecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), which permits use, distribu on, and reproduc on in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. J.F. Terelak - Characteristic of the scientifi c... Fig. 1. One of the fi rst SMA-3 British simulators in the 1970s to study attention and visual-motor coordination. INTERDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF tive support for psychologists in posturographical RESEARCH OF POLISH AVIATION examinations and the mechanism of spatial disori- PSYCHOLOGISTS entation of pilots [18]. Interesting research was con- ducted in cooperation with a clinic and an ophthal- The wide range of scientifi c and implementa- mological laboratory on spatial vision and the ocu- tional activities of aviation psychologists at MIAM lomotor saccade mechanism of visual attention[17]. was a result of its specifi city resulting from the in- Psycho-pharmacological and psycho-toxicological terdisciplinary nature and organizational auton- research conducted in cooperation with special- omy. The psychologists working at MIAM had full ist research laboratories of MIAM, led by prof. W. organizational autonomy within the framework Święcicki and dr. Z. Koter, allowed to determine the of the Psychometric Laboratory initially established infl uence of various types of drugs on the mental at the Center for Aviation-Medical Research, and and motor fi tness of a pilot [23]. Contacts with the then at the Psychophysiology Department, which Performance and Physical Education Department, was transformed into the Aviation Psychology De- led by dr. Henryk Sulajnis, and later by dr. Krzysztof partment. Although the fi rst head of the depart- Klukowski, in cooperation with assistant professor ment was a physician mjr. Juliusz Gazda, MD his Zbigniew Sarol focused the psychological research successors were psychologists. This, of course, did on the evaluation of the eff ectiveness of pilots’ rest not prevent us from carrying out many interesting in Military Training and Fitness Centers in Gronik works of an interdisciplinary nature. Aviation psy- and Mrągowo [25]. chologists have been cooperating to a signifi cant Attention should be drawn to psychological re- extent with practically all theoretical clinics, facili- search conducted with the use of unique fl ight sim- ties or labs. For example, psychological research ulators: thermal chambers [24], diving chambers carried out in cooperation with a psychoneurologi- [15], centrifuges [2], catapults [1], aviation gymnas- cal clinic and an electroencephalography labora- tic equipment [22] and fl ight simulators [7]. tory were unique not only in Polish psychology but Psychological tests were also carried out on dy- also in the world. The substantive assistance of prof. namic simulators as well as in real fl ight conditions. Zbigniew Edelwein and prof. Jan Miszczak made It was possible because we had a psychologist it possible to use EEG records to calculate the so- in the team, lieutenant colonel dr. Henryk Świątek, called alpha index in a resting situation to diagnose who was a combat pilot and fl ight instructor pilots’ temperament [30]. Other areas of coopera- in school regiments. tion with neurologists concerned among others: microwave eff ects on mental functions [10], eff ects INTRODUCTION OF NEW SCIENTIFIC of some neurological medicines on psychomotor DISCIPLINES IN POLISH APPLIED performance and attention of a pilot [12]. On the PSYCHOLOGY other hand, the cooperation with the internist clinic concerned mainly the pathogenesis of psychoso- Space Psychology - as part of MIAM’s research matic disorders of pilots in relation to aviation stress programme Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and [9], while the laryngological clinic was a substan- INTERKOSMOS within the Department of Space © The Polish Journal of Aviation Medicine, Bioengineering and Psychology 2017 | Volume 23 | Issue 3-4 | 75 Chronicle years 1986-1991 within the framework of the Central Programme for Basic Research 01.20 entitled “Gwarancja niezawodności psycholog- icznej członków załogi w długotrwałych lotach kosmicznych” (“Assurance of psychological reli- ability of the crew members in long-term space flights”) carried out under the intergovernmen- tal INTERKOSMOS programme and coordinated Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Scientific research conducted by Jan Terelak included two natural experiments, conducted in extreme conditions of space flight and the most unfriendly conditions on Earth for Rig. 2. The Original Space Questionnaire (“Oprosnik”) humans - Antarctic conditions. Research carried signed by the Cosmonaut Mirosław Hermaszewski, out at the space station (Orbital Assembly “Salut who fi lled it in on the fl ight on the ship “Sojuz”. 6 - Soyuz 29 Vostok”) under the cryptonym “Oprosnik” (Questionnaire) to assess the redis- Psychology led by dr. Romuald Błoszczyński and tribution of working and resting time of cosmo- later dr. Jan Terelak, a new fi eld of applied psychol- nauts on real flights and the behavioral effects ogy, namely space psychology, was established. of operation in changed photo-ecological con- The issue of space psychology included, among ditions (biorhythms). others: selection of candidates for the first Polar psychology - connected with the sec- Polish astronaut, experiments on spacecraft ond natural experiment conducted by dr. Jan (e.g. Relaxation), theoretical aspects of selection Terelak during a one-year stay at the Antarc- of crews of spacecraft, psychological effects tic Station of the Polish Academy of Sciences of isolation, etc. These issues were studied in the named after H. Arctowski in Antarctica, on the Fig. 3. Team performing the fi rst historical appendectomy in the H. Antarctic Station of the Polish Academy of Science on the 22nd December 1978 (upper row, from the left: dr. Józef Domaszuk (surgeon from the Military Institute of Aviation Medicine), dr. Jan Terelak (psychologist from the Military Institute of Aviation Medicine, as “anesthesiologist”), dr. Maciej Rembiszewski (head of winter camp); lower row: Marian Bieńko (patient-fi shermen from the m/t “Jowisz”), dr. Anna Jakubiec-Puka (biologist from the Polish Academy of Sciences, as “scrub nurse”). 76 | 2017 | Volume 23 | Issue 3-4 | www.pjambp.com J.F. Terelak - Characteristic of the scientifi c... psychological effects of social isolation as the PARTICIPATION OF POLISH AVIATION precursors of behavior in future long-term space PSYCHOLOGISTS IN ADAPTATION OF expeditions. The description of the experiments RESEARCH EQUIPMENT AND VALIDATION and the results of the research are presented OF TESTS USEFUL FOR EXAMINATION OF in two books [46,47]. The research is unique FLYING PERSONNEL in the global literature on the subject, as only four psychologists in the twentieth century Access to many modern fl ight simulators, as well participated in such an experiment personally, as the construction of our own research equipment and because the research was conducted every in cooperation with MIAM engineers made that two weeks for a year, which allowed to deter- the research facilities of aviation psychologists had mine the dynamics of changes in the behavior no equals compared to psychological laboratories of many psychological parameters. Also unique at Polish universities. It has also often been an ad- was the experience of a polar psychologist, vantage of the willing cooperation with the Depart- who in extreme circumstances