Closed-Loop Real-Time Neurophysiologically-Driven Simulation-Based Training System.

Contemporary warfighters are tasked with maintaining a constant state of readiness and military leaders are increasingly reliant on various simulation or serious gaming platforms. Simulations are also useful in addressing the needs of warfighters suffering from mild TBI or other trauma, replacing conventional neuropsychological assessment and facilitating innovations in rehabilitation technologies. These technologies reduce training time and costs by as much as 50% but there is a dearth of objective tools for evaluating successful simulation environments. The proposed work will enrich the creation, evaluation and implementation of simulation environments for training and rehabilitation by adding real-time analysis of the subjective states of the gamers. Advances in ultra-low power electronics, ubiquitous computing, and wearable sensors enables real-time monitoring of cognitive and emotional states providing objective, timely, and ecologically valid assessments of attention, alertness, affect, workload, arousal, and other constructs essential to training and neurorehabilitation. Two projects are proposed to demonstrate the utility of real-time neurosensing, one exploring the uncanny valley effect, a current issue emerging from the collective effort of design engineers to create robots, avatars and animated characters that are acceptable replicas of humans. The second uses the same neurotechnology platform to expand applications of a closed-loop neurorehabilitation training environment.