Neuroscience, Ethics, and National Security: The State of the Art

Military involvement and research in neuroscience generates unique ethical, legal, and social issues that require careful elucidation and consideration in order to align the potentially conflicting needs of national defense, public interest, and scientific progress

ENSURING SURVIVABILITY FOR NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE OPERATIONS IN THE ARCTIC

Naval Special Warfare (NSW) operators are not currently manned, trained, or equipped to effectively survive or execute High Arctic mission sets. The dynamic rate of environmental change and the adversarial exploitation of the Arctic regions have disadvantaged the United States and its allies. This capstone intends to reduce inherent survival risks an NSW operator would incur associated with extreme “cold” and increase the duration an NSW operator can remain on station in the High Arctic. The end state is to provide NSW with research and a Course of Action (COA) that leads to prototype production, orchestrated through the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), enabling NSW operators to rapidly respond to crisis/conflict in all Arctic regions.Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Olfaction, Memory, and Presence in Warfighters: Do the Scents of War Matter?

Background: Exposure therapy (EXP) is a first-line intervention for combat-related PTSD. EXP works by repeatedly exposing the patient to the feared stimuli, situation, or physical sensations in the absence of actual danger until the stimuli no longer evoke maladaptive responses. Over the past decade, multiple technologies have been introduced to augment the EXP process by presenting multi-sensory cues (e.g., sights, smells, sounds) to increase patients\u27 sense of presence. Exploratory research has only broadly examined the effect of odorants on the patient\u27s sense of presence during simulated exposure tasks. This study hypothesized that those with autobiographical memories similar to the virtual environment (VE) and those who received odorants would report experiencing more presence than experimental controls. Methods: 61 veterans and civilian subjects were randomized and asked to participate in a virtual environment simulating a routine OIF/OEF/OND convoy. The effects of odorants and autobiographical memory on presence were assessed via electrodermal activity, respiration, heart rate variability, and self-report measures. Results: Odorants did not significantly influence presence. A relationship between military experience and presence, HRV, and realism was observed. Conclusion: Odorants did not have a statistically significant effect on presence while engaged in a simulated exposure task, which was inconsistent with previous research. The rationale for these findings and recommendations for future research are made

A Quantitative analysis of the mental workload demands of MRAP vehicle drivers using physiological, subjective, and performance assessments

United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Operators and vehicle Commanders are specially trained United States military Warfighters that have the demanding task of operating or working onboard Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs). Their missions encounter significant mental demands resulting from fatigue, highly stressful situations, and interactions with Government Furnished Equipment (GFE). Excessive mental demands can be the primary factor leading to compromised vehicle communication, missed improvised explosive device (IED) detection, and increased incidents of vehicle roll-over. Research has demonstrated the consequences of mental overloading including increased errors, performance decrements, distraction, cognitive tunneling and inadequate time to appropriately process information. The objectives of this thesis were to evaluate the extent to which task-related factors impact the mental workload of Warfighters and to evaluate the consistency among the three categories of mental workload metrics. The 14 participants studied in this research were Marine Corps personnel who had heavy vehicle driving experience. Physiological, subjective and performance measures were collected during a four-segment course that progressed in difficulty and analyzed across all participants to assess changes in mental workload. It was found that task-related factors impacted the mental workload of Warfighters. The subjective metric was able to capture changes in workload more accurately than biosignals. Due to technical problems with the biosignal data, comparison of consistency across metrics was inconclusive. The subjective workload ratings were significantly different between course segments and experience levels. The experiment resulted in workload ratings that increased by as much as 94% between segments and were 18% higher among novice drivers. This study showed that mental workload fluctuates while driving in a stressful situation, despite training and experience, and consequently, detection performance will be impacted which could have very adverse consequences. There is the need for additional research to have a better understanding of the true impact of mental workload on MRAP vehicle drivers, especially in an operational environment