Brain Activity during Tactical Decision-Making. 5. A Cross-Study Validation of Evoked Potentials as Indices of Workload

Abstract

The results of such tests can predict academic performance reasonably well but are less effective in predicting on-job performance. In an attempt to better understand the human as a integrator and decision maker in operating systems, event-related potentials (ERPs) have been employed to assess individual brain processes and their relationship to differences in on-job performance and decision making. The purpose of this report is to demonstrate a cross-study validation of the use of ERPs as indices of cognitive workload. The first study found that certain ERP amplitude measures decreased by about 40 percent as workload increased from baseline to active participation in an anti-air warfare situation (AIRDEF). The study was conducted in the summer of 1985 with group of 30 U.S. Marines stationed at the Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego. The basic design of the experiment consisted of a single-task condition in which subjects performed an anti-air warfare simulation (AIRDEF) task under three progressively higher levels of difficulty. ERPs were recorded to a visual stimulus that was presented on the same monitor as the higher levels of difficulty. ERPs were recorded to a visual stimulus that was presented on the same monitor as the simulation, but this stimulus had no task relevance.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1988
Accession Number
ADA203763

Entities

People

  • Gregory W. Lewis
  • Leonard J. Trejo
  • Mark H. Blankenship

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Warfare
  • Air Defense
  • Biological Sciences
  • Brain
  • Cognition
  • Cognitive Workload
  • Computers
  • Electrophysiological Phenomena
  • Frequency
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Nervous System
  • Neurology
  • Operating Systems
  • Psychology
  • Simulations
  • Training
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience