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12 August 5, 2016
Medical Advances
Neuroscience advances could boost battle eld performance
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (Army News Service) reactive state, she said. Photo Credit: David Vergun
-- Advances in brain science could lead to improvements in performance A proactive state is where a driver has good situational awareness EEG sensors and cap used to monitor test subjects’ brain
and decision making, changing the way Soldiers ght in the near future. wave patterns is shown mocked up, with brain wave
of the road, an awareness that allows him to stay in his or her lane, patterns in the background. This was during media day
The improvements could include increased effectiveness in detecting for instance. A reactive state is when a driver must react to a situation, at Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground,
and engaging the enemy and increased alertness while driving through the such as when a driver misses an exit and must come up with a new Md., July 28, 2016.
battlespace, according to Dr. Jean Vettel, a neuroscientist at Army Research strategy, she said.
Laboratory who spoke during a media day here onThursday, July 28. Alternatively, if the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle, sensors moni-
Researchersarebeginningtousethedatabasetheyhavedevelopedbased toring the brain patterns of the Soldier inside the vehicle could alert
For the last seven years, Vettel’s team has been running experiments to ontheirexperimentstopredictbothtypesofdrivingperformance,shesaid. him or her that the autonomous vehicle is about to do something
gainabetterunderstandingoftheindividualdi erencesinbrainpatterns dangerous and it could turn the driving over to the Soldier, she
that could lead to future capabilities for soldiers in the 2040 timeframe. In future experiments, her researchers might induce fatigue or said, calling the proposed system the “shared control model.”
sleep deprivation in the safety of the simulator, she said. Later, they
During her team’s experiments, her researchers have been examining will examine the brain patterns of Soldiers on patrol. Eventually, Vettel said she would like her researchers to use
brain patterns using an electroencephalogram, or EEG, which records non-invasive sensors to monitor Soldiers all day doing a variety
voltage uctuations in di erent parts of the brain through sensors WHAT’S THIS DRIVING AT? of tasks, which would dramatically increase the data they collect.
placed on a person’s head. While Vettel is involved only in basic research, not applied research,
the knowledge her team has gained through their experiments has a good
Test subjects who are hooked up to an EEG and other sensors drive likelihood of transitioning to prototype testing in the decades ahead.
around, either in a car simulator or a real car, while data is collected on Imagine a squad of Soldiers is on dismounted patrol in enemy ter-
their brain patterns. Researchers sometimes measure multitasking by ritory, she said. ey are monitoring for suspicious activity as part of
introducing a car passenger to talk to the driver, Vettel said. their situational awareness. A Soldier may have an inkling of possible
danger, but that almost subconscious feeling hasn’t yet reached the
Brain patterns are formed by activated neural pathways linking vari- threat threshold so no warning is given to the platoon.
ous regions of the brain, but active neural connections can vary among Now, imagine that EEG-like sensors have been embedded in the
people performing the same activity. For example, while pathways Soldier’s helmet or clothing. If several other Soldiers have the same
to one person’s object recognition region may be active, those to the inkling, the sensors could detect that and transmitters could convey a
language skills region of another person’s brain may be active. threat alert to them or to their commanders back in headquarters.
Drivers in a convoy could similarly have sensors that could detect
e idea behind Vettel’s research is to build a database on the drowsiness or inattentiveness, she speculated.
brain patterns of individuals and groups that will enable researchers
to predict how Soldiers will drive in both a proactive state and in a
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