THE OBJECTIVE IS TO DEVELOP A LOW COST, OPEN ENDED AUTOMATED LABORATORY SYSTEM FOR PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT OF ABILITIES WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO HUMAN MENTAL, SENSORY AND PSYCHOMOTOR PERFORMANCE (ON-LINE COMPUTER CONTROLLED PRESENTATION OF TEST STIMULI,

THE OBJECTIVE IS TO DEVELOP A LOW COST, OPEN ENDED AUTOMATED LABORATORY SYSTEM FOR PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT OF ABILITIES WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO HUMAN MENTAL, SENSORY AND PSYCHOMOTOR PERFORMANCE (ON-LINE COMPUTER CONTROLLED PRESENTATION OF TEST STIMULI, SUBJECT RESPONSE DIRECT TO COMPUTER, SCORING AND STATISTICAL PROCESSING BY COMPUTER). SPECIFIC AIMS INCLUDE (1) SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR PRESENTATION OF SUBJECT STIMULI INVOLVING GRAPHICS ON A VIDEO DISPLAY SCREEN, (2) DEVELOPMENT OF A STRUCTURAL HOUSING AND DIGITAL ELECTRONICS FOR A SUBJECT DISPLAY/RESPONSE CONSOLE, (3) SELECTION OF AND INTERFACE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR A SYSTEM MICROCOMPUTER AND (4) THOROUGH TEST OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE. SUCH A SYSTEM COULD BE APPLIED BY USERS INVOLVED IN TESTING OR INVESTIGATING HUMAN RESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONS TO DRUGS, TOXIC GASES, HYPOXIC STATES, FATIGUE, MENTAL DISORDERS AND DISEASE STATES. METHODS INVOLVE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND OF HARDWARE TO ACHIEVE SPECIFIC AIMS. PHASE I INVOLVES PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT (COMPUTER-GENERATED TEST GRAPHICS AND SUBJECT DISPLAY/RESPONSE CONSOLE), AND SELECTION OF MICROCOMPUTER. PHASE II INVOLVES COMPLETION OF ENTIRE SYSTEM PROTOTYPE AND THOROUGH TESTING. INNOVATION INVOLVES POTENTIAL FOR SYSTEMATIZING AND MAKING GENERALLY AVAILABLE MANY TESTS OF HUMAN PERFORMANCE, WITH INDIVIDUAL USERS ABLE TO DEVELOP THEIR OWN TESTS OR MODIFY EXISTING TESTS BY CHANGING SOFTWARE, NOT HARDWARE. COMMERCIAL APPLICATION POTENTIAL EXTENDS TO A WIDE RANGE OF USERS OF HUMAN PERFORMANCE TEST DEVICES.