Immersive Scenario Based Training Environments for Intuitive Decision Making

The Primed Intuition Training (Prime-IT) program combines cognitive and training science with critical domain knowledge, incorporating advances in immersive training and neurocognitive measurement, to develop the foundation for sound, intuitive decision-making. At the heart of Prime-IT are principles of scenario-based training in synthetic learning environments that provide the framework for a continuum that guides the trainee through acquisition of declarative knowledge and its application to complex operational environments. A major objective for Phase I is to identify and explore key issues in training that must be addressed: from declarative knowledge content to feasible and meaningful neurocognitive and physiological metrics. A second major objective is to develop a basic training prototype that will demonstrate how these considerations can be incorporated within the Prime-IT framework. The prototype will focus on training and neurocognitive/physiological measurement of intuitive decision-making in a specific operational task. Sample scenarios will be developed in a computer-based virtual simulation. Furthermore, this prototype will be adaptable to a wide range of operational tasks and a variety of immersive environments. The declarative knowledge component of Prime-IT ensures detection of environmental cues and indicators that are the input for intuitive decision-making and promotes an awareness of cognitive biases that impact intuitive decisions.