Improved Performance Test Battery for Determining a Person's Readiness to Perform Specific Jobs

The complexity of modern military systems makes it critical that degraded operators be identified prior to going on duty. Current readiness to perform tests primarily utilize off-line behavioral techniques to identify such operators. The present proposal details two separate but related developments which will provide DOD with both a near-term and longer-term approach to this area. First, a portable readiness to perform test battery tailored specifically to military job requirements and utilizing current state-of-the-art performance assessment technology will be designed and evaluated. This approach will utilize a battery of well-studied performance probes, embedded into an efficient "directed attention" paradigm, to yield job-specific tests lasting less than 6 minutes. These tests will evaluate the person's current safety-related skills relative to a personal norm. Second, a next-generation readiness to perform test technology utilizing both job- embedded tests and advanced, non-linear analysis techniques will be explored and demonstrated. Specifically, the ability of neural network or other analyses of job-performance data to provide continuous monitoring and assessment of the individual performance characteristics will be explored. As part of the final product, at least one such analysis will be demonstrated, and its sensitivity and practical utility in the military environment will be evaluated.