MODELING ASSESSMENT AND ENHANCEMENT OF COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE

TACTICAL MISSION EFFECTIVENESS IS DEPENDENT ON A VERY FEW INDIVIDUALS WHO DISPLAY EXTRAORDINARY CAPACITY TO PERCEIVE, INTEGRATE, AND ACT. THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE PRESENT EFFORT IS TO ENHANCE THE ABILITY TO IDENTIFY AND TRAIN SUCH INDIVIDUALS BY DEVELOPING A NOVEL ASSESSMENT APPROACH BASED ON A NEW THEORETICAL MODEL OF COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE. TO ACHIEVE THIS, A MODEL OF COMPLEX COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE WHICH YIELDS MEASUREMENT APPROACHES AND TRAINING PRESCRIPTIONS WILL BE PRODUCED. THE FIRST TASK, DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTEGRATED MODEL OF COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE, WILL BE BASED ON THREE MAJOR CONSTRUCTS OR PROCESSING DOMAINS; "INTUITIVE" PROCESSES, "REFLECTIVE" PROCESSES, AND "INTEGRATIVE" PROCESSES. THE INTERACTIONS AND INTERDEPENDENCIES AMONG THESE THREE PERFORMANCE DOMAINS WILL BE EXPLORED. THE SECOND PART OF THIS EFFORT WILL IDENTIFY THE MEASUREMENT APPROACHES AND SPECIFIC METRICS APPROPRIATE TO THE MODEL DEFINED ABOVE. A SUB-SET OF THESE MEASURES WILL THEN BE TESTED IN AN EXPERIMENT USING AN OPERATIONALLY RELEVANT CRITERION (NOVICE VERSUS. EXPERIENCED PILOTS).