CHARACTERIZING SOLDIER RESPONSES TO IRRITANT GASES

THE MOST STRAIGHTFORWARD WAY TO MEASURE OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE IS TO MEASURE IT ON THE JOB. HOWEVER, WHEN SUCH MEASURES ARE EMPLOYED, THEY ARE GENERALLY INSENSITIVE TO ALL BUT THE MOST POWERFUL STRESSOR EFFECTS. ONE OF THE CONTRIBUTING PROBLEMS TO THIS ISSUE IS THE LACK OF RELIABILITY. INSUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO RELIABILITY CAN LEAD TO REDUCTION OF STATISTICAL POWER, HIGHER SAMPLE SIZE REQUIREMENTS, HIGHER COST, AND WHEN HAZARD IS INVOLVED, OTHER PROBLEMS. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A QUANTITATIVE DEFINITION OF SOLDIER PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION DUE TO EXPOSURE TO IRRITANT GASES BY TWO LINKING APPROACHES: SURROGATE MEASURES AND DOSE EQUIVALENCE. SURROGATE MEASURES ARE RELATED TO, OR PREDICTIVE OF, A CONSTRUCT OF INTEREST BUT ARE NOT DIRECT MEASURES. DOSE EQUIVALENCE REFERS TO AN EXPERIMENTAL METHOD WHERE PERFORMANCE DEFICITS PRODUCED WITH A CONTROLLED (AND BENIGN) INDEXING AGENT AND IRRITANT GASES ARE THEN CALIBRATED AGAINST THE AGENT. HUMAN AND ANIMAL DATA WILL BE OBTAINED FROM THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE TO THE EXTENT THEY ARE AVAILABLE FOR MOTOR AND REACTION TIME PERFORMANCES. TO QUANTIFY THE HUMAN MENTAL ACUITY FUNCTIONS WHICH ARE RELATED TO MILITARY JOBS, A PORTABLE MICROCOMPUTER MENU OF TESTS WILL BE EMPLOYED. IN PHASE I A PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION WILL BE PERFORMED TO AN IRRITANT GAS OR OTHER SUITABLE AGENT.