Training Soldiers to Decode Nonverbal Cues in Cross-Cultural Interactions

Cultural and communication competencies are emerging as critical components of the successful Soldier skill set given the nature of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations. The goal of this effort is to develop a prototype of an automated, deployable training system to increase Soldiers' ability to decode nonverbal cues in cross-culture interactions. The training will have a general NVC skills component and a culture-specific component targeting NVC skills unique to a Middle Eastern culture. Both the culture-general and culture-specific portions of the training will consist of three parts: 1)an initial assessment of skills at NVC across different channels, 2) a training section that asks trainees to interpret/rate the stimulus and provides feedback, and 3) a testing section in which NVC channels are randomly ordered.