Nueral G-meter System for Personnel Selection Research

Current evidence suggests that the speed and/or efficiency of neural processing is closely related to the general or "g" factor that underlies performance on intelligence tests. Further, measurements of neural activity may be particularly good predictors of performance in complex, stressful, and extremely time-limited tasks. IF further substantiated, and if technology is advanced so that the requisite measurements can be made conveniently and reliably, a physiological index of g could play an important role in the process of selecting personnel capable of superior performance in demanding military operational environments. We thus propose to develop and validate a specialized system for measuring neurophysiological correlates of g. In phase I we will determine the modifications and additions required to our general neurophysiological research system to make a specialized NEURAL g-METER system for use by psychometricians performing research on personnel selection issues, as well as develop a detailed plan for the implementation and evaluation of the system in Phase II. The system will be designed to provide researchers with sufficient flexibility to try out alternative tests and it will include neural network pattern recognition analysis functions to determine which neurophysiological and behavioral measures, alone and in combination, best predict conventional measures of g.