USAMRMC
Military
Operational
Medicine
Research
Program

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Overview

Lab Locations and Capabilities

Environmental Medicine and Bioenergetics

Neuropsychological Stress and Performance

Injury Sciences and Systems Hazards

MOMRP Task Area: C

Problem

Soldier performance can be markedly degraded by excessive and fatiguing mental tasks, ranging from concentration on accurate target acquisition for sentries, to sorting information from multiple and distracting sources in technologically advanced vehicles or aircraft. In the complex environment of the cockpit, the pilot has many tasks to do. This situation calls for cognitive speed and cognitive flexibility. Another typical military environment, sentry duty or a more boring vigilance task, is just as challenging, but in a different way. This situation calls for focus and sustained attention. Lapses from not having much to do (and wandering) may be different from lapses due to too many balls to juggle. However, in either case, catastrophic failures such as accidents, fratricide, and mission failure may occur when human limits are exceeded.

Medical Research Solution

Conduct research to characterize the impact of cognitively demanding tasks and improve methods to noninvasively measure significant levels of impairment caused by harmful mental loads. Candidate methods include neuropsychological testing, ocular responses, and voice analysis.

Products

• Biomedical data on the impact of mental loads for predictions and operational planning.
• Specifications for noninvasive assessment methods and physiological thresholds associated with meaningful performance degradation.
• Human tolerance limits for cognitive load that can be used in military task and materiel design.

Last Update: April 2, 2003