ENHANCING HUMAN PERFORMANCE: AN EVALUATION OF 'NEW AGE' TECHNIQUES CONSIDERED BY THE U.S. ARMY

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
11
Document Creation Date: 
November 4, 2016
Document Release Date: 
October 14, 1998
Sequence Number: 
1
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
March 1, 1990
Content Type: 
BOOK
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6.pdf1.17 MB
Body: 
Approved For Release 2000/08 k8+otCdAA4RDR96s00789R00 .016g6~O1-6 ~~?ww~ w~~w.w~i ~ w is ap- re I). legit- icture APS terlap x peri- -alth- hat is :Areas eem- o the f De- t,PA. Iged. ewer was tune, pfidltin, nerican Human tall, 1.. !anizing Techniques Considered by the U.S. Army by John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjork General Article ENHANCING HUMAN PERFORMANCE: An Evaluation of "New Age" ilnrom'entional techniques considered by the United States Army far enhancing human performance trere revietrt'd during a ntwo-year study by a c?ornntittee of? the Nutionul Research Council. Little or no scientific evidence was fruatd to support the effectiveness of several, including neurolinguivtir? progrum- tiling in interpersonal irtfluenc?r and such paranormal terh- niques as retrwte vieiving and psyc?hokine.sis. Mixed results were seen to charcrc'teri e orhertechniques, for example. group- cohesion procedures. Further study was suggested fur a few, jincindinq mental practice rtf motor skills. Guideline,' requested of the committee Jbr future arm's evoluution of enhancement ierhniques?.stressed the needfor. and the eonc/uct of both lub- araton+ and field research. The contrmtiee rt'contmended fur- l +i+ then consideration of mainstream research in the behavioral i(lences as a basis for effective performance ertltancente'nt . I Address conevpondence and reprint requests to John A. Swets. I Bell Beranek and Newman, Inc.. 10 Moulton Street, Camhridgc, MA 9:138, or to Robert A. 13iork, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 9(K)24. . Five years ago the Army Research Institute (AR!) asked the National Research Council to assess a field of techniques designed to enhance human performance. As ,a class, these techniques are extraordinary in that they were developed outside of mainstream research in the behavioral sciences and are accompanied by strong claims for high effectiveness. The ARI wanted a commit- tee to examine the potential of certain specified tech- to recommend appropriate criteria for evaluating such techniques, and, where possible, to specify the re- search necessary to advance understanding of perfor- mance enhancements in areas of behavior related to the proposed techniques. In pursuing this line of investiga- tion, the ARi was reacting to broad and substantial ad- vocacy in the army of trying to gain large enhancements of human performance by any conceivable means. The army's interests, as summarized by ARi. included more efficient learning, improved motor skills, altered mental states, stress reduction, interpersonal influence, group cohesion, and certain parapsychological pro- cesses. More specifically, the army was considering the possibilities that learning could take place during sleep, that learning might be accelerated via packaged programs designed for that purpose, and that motor skills might be enhanced by guided imagery, mental practice, visual con- centration, and biofeedback. Further, it wished to pursue the possibility that mental states could be altered by self- induced hypnotism, meditation, focused concentration, or the integration of activity in the brain's hemispheres, in order to promote periods of peak performance. The army was also interested in whether biofeedback and methods that purport to alter mental states might be use- ful in managing stress. Certain aspects of interpersonal and group processes were under examination as well, including whether group cohesion, which might be fos- tered by keeping army units intact, enhances group and individual performance. Finally, the army had an interest in such parapsychological processes as remote viewing and psychokinesis, or mind over matter, especially men- tal influence on the functioning of remote machines. It may at first -seem strange that anyone in the army was interested in the panoply of behavioral processes and techniques that characterized the countercultural human- potential movement of the 1960s. However, in the 1980s advocates of such techniques have had success with an approach that is more entrepreneurial than ideological. Moreover, the techniques are presented less as related to general well-being and more as related; to specific tasks, such as marksmanship, second-language learning, and sleep inducement. The army is not alone in this interest: Private industry and the general public have also given much attention Co these New Age techniques in commer- cially available programs of general training and self help, The army's.int.erest in extending human abilities through parapsychological processes, originated primarily in intel- ligence circles rather than in training circles, but para- 1 1990 VOL. I. NO 2. MARCH 1990 Copyright 1990 American Psychological Society 85 j Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RQP9.6-00789R002200650001-6 PSYCHOI.O(,I(.AL SC E. CE. Enhancing Human Performance psychology soon became a bedfellow of the unconven- tional training techniques in the army. FORMATION OF THE NRC COMMITTEE In conversations between Edgar M. Johnson. techni- cal director of ARI, and David A. Goslin, then executive director of the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sci- ences and Education (CBASSE) of the NRC, and in a formal letter request, it was indicated that the ARI lead- ership wanted help, not only to reduce broad pressures on it that had recently intensified, but also with an im- portant national problem of interest to private industry and the public as well as the military. CBASSE members who evaluated this request included psychologists Wil- liam K. Estes, Ira J. Hirsh, Lauren Resnick, and Stanley Schachter. In response to the request, CBASSE moved to set up a committee especially for the purpose, with suggestions. for particular kinds of expertise also from other advisers including psychologists Robert Boruch, Wendell R. Garner, Bert F. Green, and Gardner Lindzey. The first author of this article was enlisted as committee chair and, together with Goslin, he developed the final recommendations for membership that were endorsed by the commission.' Daniel Druckman was appointed a the committee's study director. The Committee on Techniques for the Enhancement of Human Performance (henceforth. the committee) met first in late July 1985. ARI's Johnson along with George Lawrence, its liaison to the committee, arranged for sev- eral speakers at the first meeting, who informed and sometimes perplexed the members. A few speakers de- scribed single techniques, others waxed enthusiastic about the full range of them. and one, a retired general, spoke eloquently of his own extensive psychokinetic powers. General Maxwell R. Thurman was the motivational speaker at dinner the first evening. His graphs demon- strated that in terms of recruits' test scores. the army was doing increasingly better, and also better compared to the other services. His review of the traditional and growing demands placed on soldiers, however, made clear that these demands continued to outstrip abilities by a large margin. THE COMMITTEE'S APPROACH The committee could easily imagine the great difficul- ties faced in Converting recruits, most of them with min- I. The committcc consisted of John A, Swct,, chair, Robert A. B,iork, Thomas D. Cook, Gerald C. Davison, Lloyd G. Humphreys. Ray Hyman. Daniel M. Landers, Sandra A Mobley, t,ymnn W. Porter. Michael 1. Posner, Walter Schneider, Jerome E. Singer, Sally P Springer. and Richard F. Thompson. . imal education as well as short terms or duty, into so1? diers who possess the personal and social skills needed in battle as well as the technical skills needed to operate and maintain complex equipment. It could understand urges to look beyond slow. narrow, and insuffiCie.naly targeted j mainstream research on human performance to enhance. ments that could come from elsewhere. And it was aware that those in the army responsible for training and tech. nique evaluation would face difficulties in responding to strong enhancement claims (both by army officers and outside vendors) for diverse and far-ranging techniques. The committee agreed that the general problem deserved objective and thorough examination and was willing to initiate such a study. Subcommittees were formed on various facets of the problem. including evaluation issues, sleep learning, ac. Celerated learning, guided imagery, biofeedback, split. brain effeet5, stress management, cohesion. influence, and parapsychology. The committee met as a whole six times in 2 years, in whole or part made ten site visits, invited twenty or so briefings, and commissioned ten background review papers.` It met twice with a Re" source Advisory Group of army officers formed for the purpose. ARMY BACKGROUND The army's interest in parapsychology is reported to be longstanding, including, for example, sponsorship of E&P research by J.B. Rhine in the early 1905. Remote. viewing experiments were conducted for the army by the Stanford Research Institute in the 1970s. A military colt cern has been that the Soviets have been active in the development of psychic -abilities, including the ability to affect the behavior of others through mental telepathy. A proposal developed in the army for the First Earth Bal- i talion envisioned warrior monks with it range of parapsy 2. Ten commissioned papers, available from the National Ac:tder. y press, are thcsc. Eric Eich, Learning during sleep. Robert E Slavin, Principles or effective instruction; Deborah L. Feltz. Daniel M Landers. and Betsy J. Becker. A rcvisci meta-analysis of the mental practice literature on motor skill learning. Seymour Levine, Serestand performance; Raymond W. N ivraco, Stress reduction and the milnarv; Dean Ci. Pruitt. dcnnifcr Crocker, and Deborah Hanes, Matching and other influence strategies; Boaz Tamir and Gideon Kunda, Culture and t military perfurmnnce.; Janie% E, Alcock, A cumprehnnsive review,f mu,ictr empirical studies, in par,apsychc'logy mvolvcng random evert Qca eratars and remote ' tcw+n Mwl ca J Harris and Robert Rascnthi. lnterpersona expectancy efecti and human performance research: Dale Griffin. Intuitive )ud(sment and the evaluation of evidence. 3, The Resource Advisory Group consisted of general officers wbo held the positions of Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel. Depu() Chill c,f Staff for In(elligence. Dircclor of Army Research and Technolo4?. Commander of the Soldicr Support Center, and Commander. Medal e?. Research and t)evelopment Command and as well the Amotant Sc rclary of the Army for Manpower and Rcserve Affutr%. Approved For Release 2000/08/08: CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6 Approved For Release 2000/QWpA)- rI RO -00789R002200650001-6 Enhancing Human Performance pared for the Army Research Institute by John Palmer review of the same studies that it commis- d f rom a an sioned Alcock to make. The committee also reviewed the -other main body of experimental research, namely. on Ganzfeld experiments, in which a homogeneous visual field is used to alter states of mind in the interest of receiving psi signals. A paper on intuitive Judgment and the evaluation of evidence was prepared for the commit- tee by Griffin (see footnote 2). With particular attention to the three sets of experi- mental studies, but including its other reviews and expe- riences, the committee found no scientific warrant the existence of parapsycolo ical phenomena. t.-No scien titre Juste tcatron was the phrase agreed on with NRC " " cap- warrant editors for the committee's report, but tures better the intended sense.) Though the committee therefore saw no reason for direct army involvement. it felt that monitoring by the army of the main, current. experimental work would be prudent and suitable. If that monitoring led to the proposal of specific studies, the recommendations were that army and outside scientists arrive at an agreed-upon research protocol, that the re- search be conducted by proponents and skeptics, and that attention he given to the manipulability and practical application of any effects found to exist. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The committee observed a pervasive army tendency to accept and implement enhancement techniques on the basis of personal or clinical experience and marketplace popularity instead of on the basis of research evidence that could establish the existence and usefulness of an enhancement effect. In expressing its concern about this practice, the committee issued a list of questions about presumed enhancement techniques that had been pre- pared by scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research: What changes will the technique produce'? What evidence supports the claims for the technique? What theories stand behind it? Who will be able to use it? What are its implications for army operations? How does it fit with army philosophy? What are the cost-benefit factors'? (Hegge, Tyner. & Genser, 1983). Because strong claims of support from basic research have been made for some of the techniques the commit- tee examined. the committee reviewed in its report what it takes to justify a scientific claim. Specifically, it high- lighted the need to conduct basic research so that infer- ences could be drawn in accordance with scientific stan- dards---inferences about novel concepts, causation, alternative explanations of causal relations, and the gen- eralizability of causal relations. Standards for evaluating field tests of enhancement programs were also reviewed, including such factors as immediate effects, side effects, assigning merit and meeting needs. likelihood of transfer. and contrast with alternatives. The committee acknowledged the differences between rational decision making in science and in practical con- texts. for example. differences in the benefits of correct decisions and the costs of incorrect decisions and in what is viewed as a timely decision. It recommended that the army acknowledge such differences explicitly in connec? tion with decisions about particular techniques. It set forth an analysis of the unreliability of' testimonies as evidence for enhancement effects. And it stipulated what it thought would be useful mechanisms for advice to dif- ferent parts of the army as well as bidding procedures it felt would facilitate informed choices of programs and vendors. The committee recommended that the army continue to examine vigorously enhancement techniques that ap- pear promising. It added the advice that the examination should be systematic and should include techniques drawn from mainstream research as well as packages pro- moted by vendors. A main concern of the committee was to link more closely the army's great interest in enhanc. ing human performance and its substantial resources for conducting tests to evaluate techniques. The committee remarked on the potential for transfer to the civilian sec- tor, COMMITTEE PUBLICATIONS The committees final report was published as a book by the National Academy Press in early 1988, entitled Enhancing human performance: Issues. theories, and techniques, edited by Druckman and Swets, (A second printing was made a year later.) With preliminary copies available, a briefing was given army officials and a press conference was held in December 1987, with Swets, Bjork. Hyman, Singer, and Druckman representing the I committee. The press conference was attended by some fifty reporters who heard a 15-minute prepared statement i and then raised questions for an hour or so, Primary ar- ticles appeared in the d'ew York Times (Leary, 1987), Wushington Post (Squires, 1987a. 1987b), Washington Times (Price, 1987). and Los Angeles Times (Gillette. 1987), and articles based on them appeared in many other local and regional newspapers. Other news articles were published in Science (Holden, 1987)? Science Nrl+s (Greenberg, 1988), Science and Government Report (Greenberg, 1987), APA Monitor (Hostetler, 1988), Psv- chnhogy Today (Roberts, 1988), The Chronicle of Higher Education (Wheeler. 1987), Beijing's Science and Tech- nology Daily for June 29, 1988, and the NRC's News I Report (Jarmal, 1988). Swets and Druckman co-authored an op-ed article that was printed in 25 daily newspapers. The press conference was videotaped by NBC, CNN. and the United States Information Agency. CNN re- VOL. I. NO. 2. MARCH 199) 97Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6 clween al con- correct in what hat the 'onnec- It set hies as .d what to dif- _lures it ms and antinue hat ap- tination tniques acs pro- tee was 2nhanc- rces for rimittee tan sec- a book entitled e,s, and second copies a press Swets, ting the ty home itement -tary ar- 1987). hington :3illette, tv other es were News Report 8), Psy- ' Higher d Tech- s Netts uthored ,papers, , CNN, Approved For Release 2000/087W (CPAcPl 6cO0789R002200650001-6 John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjork played small segments for a few days. NBC's camera did not operate properly so Tom Brokaw's evening news used file footage representing some of the Army's more lurid past interests, for example. in walking through walls, and he commented in kind, National Public Radio presented for a few days an interview with Robert Bjork an learning techniques. PUBLIC REACTION The committee's book was reviewed descriptively un- der the heading "Briefly Noted" by Sheldon Zedeck (1988) in Contemporary P.Y.vchology. It was reviewed ex- ;cnsively by Philip Morrison (1988) in Scientf/iv Aencri- tcul. We appreciated his summary; "Among the most difficult lessons in science is how not to deceive yourself, This patient and judicious overview offers genuine help" (p. 109). Irwin Child (1988), in a review for Choi(,e, com- plimented the exposition of general principles of evalua- tion but noted what he called the report's "bias against exploration of apparent anomalies not yet well attested" l.p. 536). Kendrick Frazier (1988) reviewed the book ex- tensively for the Skeptical Inquirer, with emphasis on paranormal phenomena. Druckman and Swets received several phone calls and letters, many of them complimentary (wanting more in- formation and making suggestions), for example, from the Los Angeles Police Department. and many of them expressing concern over negative treatment of particular techniques. In an interchange of several letters, Wilse Webb argued that we had been too generous to one tech- nique, that sleep learning was not worth a "second look." The strongest reactions came as expected from propo- nents of the paranormal and these tended to be in letters addressed to Frank Press. Chairman of the National Re- search Council. Robert Jahn, former Dean of Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science, wrote that a biased committee made factual errors in reviewing his experiments on mental biasing of random number gener- ators. A copy from Jahn to Senator Claiborne Pell was followed by a letter from Pell to Press, The senator was concerned, among other things, about the possible im- pact of the committee's report on the National Science Foundation. which was said to he reconsidering support of parapsychological research. and he no doubt had in mind his plans to sponsor a bill to create a commission to. scud sychology and othe o mane - enhancement techniques, a bill co-sponsored by Senators Gore and Kassehaum and now in committee (e.g? News- w~eek, June 26, 1989, p. 8). Not satisfied by the com i- car- esters. Ja, mot" I~ sort itself in this argument and that failing direct resolu- tion with the NRC, resolution could he pursued through scientific forums and Journals. The President of the Parapsychological Association, Inc.. Richard S. Broughton, also wrote to chairman Press emphasizing what e and his associates saw as bias in the selection of the committee and an attempt Fey the committee's chair to suppress a positive evaluation of a ,set of parapsychology studies. Upon what it considered an inadequate. response from the NRC, the association published a lengthy report as a "Reply to the National Research Council Study on Parapsychology." That reply was reviewed in the The Chronicle of Higher Education (Wheeler, 1988) and in Omni magazine (Huyghe, 1989). Similarly, R.A. McConnell of the University of Pitts- burgh wrote Druckman and Swets and then mailed ex- tensively a set of his materials, including his correspon- dence with the NRC and an earlier article by him. Colonel John Alexander (Ret.), one of the briefers at the committee's first meeting, challenged the validity of its report in the periodical New Realities (Alexander, 1989). We should add that the NRC's executive office consis- tently supported the committee's conclusions (and, we understand, put off a potential donor as a result).` Army leadership was initially concerned about the ,.early publicity, primarily the negative treatment by NBC News. Concern was expressed to and within the army by advocates of specific techniques that had received nega- tive evaluations. Field leaders at first showed limited in- terest, largely through calls by users or opponents of specific techniques. As time went on, the army received favorable comments from several sources about the com- mittee's report and the interest of field leaders increased. One apparently influential event was Druckman's brief- ing of the army's Human Factors Technical Group in May 1988; another was the favorable mention of the re- port in the chief of staffs monthly newsletter. In September 1988, Bjork. Druckman, Johnson, and Swets went to General Thurman's headquarters at Fort Monroe, Virginia, to brief him on the study and to pro- 5, Coloncl Alexander, who co-hosted the committee at Cleve Back- stcr's laboratory test of the emotional response'ot' Posner's Icukocvtes, wrote that the committee denigrated such scientific research by men- tioning also the scientifically unsupported ideas of psychic warfare and psychotronic weapons. Meanwhile, R.A. McConnell wrote that the legitimate rc,earch on parapsychology. We noticed that the Parapsy- chological Association. Inc., did not collaborate with McConnell in its complaint about the committee's report and that Robert Jahn chose to l Tied their case to the undersecretary of th army, who responded that it would he improper for th army to in-I VOL. I. NO. 2, MARCH 1990 Approved For Release 2000/08/0 keep his adverse reaction separate from that of the Parapsychological Association, Inc. CIA-RQf"96-00789R002200650001-6 pproved For Release 2000/08/08xcCW ReAP96E00789R002200650001-6 :tice, re- or skills , and ye- ns of re- ,y. quisition ing later estricted .ncies in )nmental Bjork & 1, 1988). gy to en- implica- h the ac- rforming 'here are (such as :e motor )tor pro- trategies that are 3physio- eart-rate execu- ery) are personal :sted by rogram- levelop- iegative .e in the :rt's be- arch on it years inflation 1, com- cc have its psy- tes variety earlier discussion of learning during sleep) that seem sensitive to types of learning without awareness ("da(a-driven processing"), there is renewed interest in subliminal learning (e.g., Jacoby & Whitehouse. in press: Marcel, 1983). While such results suggest a new look at the sub- liminal-learning issue, a large variety of subliminal tapes designed to alter attitudes, enhance confidence, reduce anxieties. and so forth, have had striking success in the marketplace. Manipulating mental, emotional. and arousal states A draft review of the literature on techniques to change mental states. commissioned by ARI and pre- pared by J. Brener and S.R Connally, was reviewed by Druckman and Posner for implications for task perfor- mance. Research developments in various fields, includ- ing health psychology, suggest that altered states of consciousness may affect a variety of physiological pro- cesses. The converse may be true as well; recent work iuggests that mood states may be altered by influences on bloodflow that are it consequence of the differing facial jnuscular patterns corresponding to various emotional expressions (Z jonc. Murphy. & Ingle-hart, 1989). AR1. motivated by the problem of detecting deception (Hy- man. 1989), has urged the committee to consider also the physical manifestations of mental and emotional states, Career development A class of techniques designed to improve perfor- , mance through increased self-insight is widely used in public and private organizations; included are assess- ment batteries designed to facilitate leadership, interper- sonal influence skills, team building, and decision mak- ing. Specific examples are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers & McCaulley. 1985), the Managerial Grid (Blake & Mouton. 1964), and the Social Styles Pro- file (Merrill & Reid. 1981). These techniques have con- siderable appeal to trainers as well as to the trainees be- cause of high "face validity." but they have been subject 1 to littl rigorous research. To help e the the questions, the committee /rn missinned Paul Thayer to write a cit- ical review of the releva Part-whole methods- to enhance group processes At its first meeting the continuing committee became convinced that certain issues of group performance de- served study, Should the members of a working group he trained as a team or individually? If team training facili- tates initial performance, is that advantage offset by greater disruption when original members of the team need to he replaced by new members? Should the indi- viduals in a group be trained in only their task, or should there be backup training to increase the flexibility of the I group? Current research may not supply definitive an- John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjor swers to these and a number of' related questions, but the issues are important enough to army functioning to be addressed. if only to clarify the questions and to outline needed research. Although other arrangements might be workable, we found that the National Research Council provides an ideal setting for it study of this sort. The Council was designed expressly for the purpose. first under the spon- sorship of the National Academy of Science and now administered as well by the National Academy of Engi- neering and the Institute of Medicine. The NAS was chartered by Congress in 1463: the NRC was established in 1916, Among the NRC's strengths are that it spans the scientific and professional disciplines: it benefits from the prestige of its governing academies; it provides in com- petent fashion the services required by committee func- . tion: and it follows guidelines to promote thorough and objective reports, including procedures for proposal and report review, Committee members are suggested by broadly based advisers, proposed by a commission's staff and executive director working with the committee's chairperson, nominated by the commission, and ap- pointed by the NRC's chairperson in the interests of com- petence, relevance, and diversity of viewpointshey Kr a~ke.d to verify that they have no conflict of interest and they serve without financial compensation. Members of the committee generally regarded their task as challenging and they demonstrated consistently that it was engaging. They came to the meetings almost without exception, made site visits willingly, submitted draft sections of the report nearly on time, and achieved consensus in an advised, efficient, and congenial way. They feel that their training and experience were ade- quate to the task and they are pleased to recommend the process to psychologists and scientists in related fields. The continuing committee can reasonably anticipate that it will contribute more by steering the army toward prom- ising new ways to enhance training and performance and less by saving the Army from investing in ineffective techniques. It will likely also serve an advisory role for some specific enhancement projects undertaken in the army. A long-term, successful impact, of the committee's work, in both of its phases, is hardly assured. The power of the human-potential movement in the minds of the citizenry. as evidenced by its marketplace popularity, dwarfs the force of mainstream psychology. New Age techniques are also apparently making substantial in- roads on the more than $30 billion a year that the Amer. can Society for Training and Development estimates to he spent on.formal courses in industry (Wall Street Jour- tCH 14'4() VOL. I, NO. 2. MARCH 1990 95 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6 Approved For Release 2000/,Q81 8L6CJA-RDR86-00789R002200650001-6 Enhancing Human Performance That research, employing amnesic as well as normal sub- jects, has illustrated that certain indirect measures of memory (for example, perceptual identification, word- fragment completion, procedural skills) can show large effects of prior episodes when conventional recall and recognition measures fail to show any such effects. Viewed in that context, only certain types of learning should take place during true EEG-verified sleep. and learning should show up on only certain types of memory tests. In general, the past negative results were obtained with inappropriate presentation procedures and with test- ing procedures that were insensitive to any learning that ;tight take place. The committee's primary recommendation was that the degree of learning of materials presented during sleep he examined again as a basic-research problem. Rather than looking at intentional recall or recognition of mate- rial presented during true sleep. the committee urged the army to look for effects such as lowering of perceptual thresholds for items presented during sleep, semantic or affective biasing in the postsleep interpretation of verbal i items as a consequence of their being presented in biased contexts during. sleep, repetition effects (enhancing postsleep performance on material studied before the sleep period by repeating the material during the sleep period). and priming effects (facilitating postsleep acqui- sition of material by presenting that material during the preceding sleep period). Recent research on state dependencies in human learning (Eich, 1989) also influenced the committee. If learning during sleep is to some extent state-specific, then it might transfer more effectively to the states of drowsiness and semisleep that accompany exhaustion and sleep deprivation than it does to the normal waking state. Since cognitive performance deteriorates under sleep deprivation, such potential transfer of sleep- training might help the subject when he or she needs it most. Finally, the committee thought that learning that depends on sleep disruption might be examined from a cost-benefit standpoint; procedures that disrupt the quantity or quality of sleep might shorten training or have other benefits that could outweigh their costs. I Accelerated Learning I The committee focused primarily on one particular learning package, SALTT (Suggestive accelerative learn- ing and teaching techniques.) Literature in the Journal or the Society of Acee(erative Learning was reviewed and committee member Schneider attended the society's na- tional meeting in 1986. The commissioned paper by Slavin provided background information on the teacher's contributions to effective instruction and the paper by Harris and Rosenthal considered the potential contribu- tion of the learner's expectations in the SALTT environ- ment (see footnote 2). The committee concluded that the extravagant claims for accelerated learning programs are unjustified. The ef- fectiveness of such programs did not exceed what might he expected on the basis of the mainstream instructional elements (for example. imagery. cooperative learning, tests as motivational devices and learning events) that are embedded in a non-traditional framework including re- . laxation exercises and special music. The committee did feel, however, that there was value in the kind of holistic approach to instruction exemplified by such programs. The army was encouraged to use its resources to evaluate competing training procedures in order to isolate the components of instruction that are effective in army set- tings. Improving Motor Skills The committee focused on three strategies to enhance motor skills: mental practice, visual concentration, and biofeedback. A background paper by Feltz. Landers, and Becker on the mental-practice literature was solicited by the committee (see footnote 2). and there were four brief. ings: one on peak performance issues, and three by ex- perts on or promoters of visual-training techniques, ln' addition, Landers and Bjork made site visits to the head- I quarters of SyberVision and to the Vic Braden Tennis Academy. SyberVision is a highly successful marketer of audio and visual tapes designed to enhance skills such as golf, tennis, skiing, howling. racquetball, and others. " Tapes such as "The Neuropsychology of Achievement address more global skills. What is shown on the tapes and the instructions to the learner are supposedly guided by a principle of "neuromuscular programming." which is in turn derived from Karl Pribram's holographic theory of brain function. The subcommittee interviewed Pri- bram, director of research for SyberVision, and Stephen' DeVore, founder and president. With respect to mental practice, defined as "the sym- bolic rehearsal of a physical activity in the absence ofany i . gross muscular movements" (Richardson, 1967, p. 95) the committee's recommendations were quite positive. A meta-analysis of the relevant research literature revealed that mental practice yields a gain in performance on the order of half a standard deviation when, compared to ap- I propriate controls. The gain is somewhat greater for mo- tor tasks that incorporate a substantial cognitive compo- nent. and the advantages of mental practice can be enhanced if physical practice and mental practice are in terspersed. The committee recommended that the army . evaluate mental practice as a training component in op.!! erational military tasks. and that the army pursue basic, research to determine what mixture of mental and phys? VOL I. NO 2, MARCH :'N' 88 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6 r Approved For Release 2000108lG8o2cCtA4RDP96-00789R002200650001-6 John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjork ce nd nd by ef- In td- ?lis of as rs. es ed Ch ,rv 'ri.-- en No. 2. MARCH IVIM Approved For R4 ag~600/08/08: CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6 cal practice might be optimal (given considerations of 4 expense, equipment availability. and so forth). Concerning visual-training programs, the committee concluded that there was no research base to suggest that such training leads to improved performance. There is evidence that certain visual abilities can be improved by training the eye muscles, but evidence that attentional skills can be enhanced by visual training is lacking. The committee concluded that there remain too many bose ends for the relationship between biofeedback and skilled performance to be determined. Part of the prob- lem is that biofeedback is often used as part of broader therapeutic programs that incorporate other, possibly ef- fecuvc. techniques. Another problem is that biofeedback is used to train physiological parameters (heart rate, for example) although clear knowledge of the most desirable levels of these parameters with respect to a given skill typically does not exist. In case, where that relationship isknown (e.g., hand warmth and finger dexterity), there is evidence of performance benefit. Altering Mental States The idea that people can achieve an internal state that will be optimal for a broad range of performance has been appealing. Some level of arousal is optimal for pelfor- Imance of a given complexity (Duffy. 1962; Yerkes & Dodson. 1908) and, specifically. the optimal level de- creases as task complexity increases (Easterbrook. 1 1959). This concept fits the behavior theories of the 1950s, which specified that a source of energy or drive is required to keep the organism active and was reinforced ~ . by the physiological discovery of a diffuse activating sy,- tent in the brain (Moruzzi & Magoun, 1949). However, with new knowledge of the variety and specificity of neu- rotransmitter systems (Robbins & Everitt, 19242) and with psychological theory focused on cognition, we have be- gun to think of a large number of cortical computations in 'widely distributed neural systems (Rumelhart & McClel- land, 1986). The view that cortical computations are mod- Iutated by different transmitter systems in varying ways makes it more difficult to suppose that any training tech- nique will provide optimal states for all forms of physical and mental activity. An example cones from the Finding that the optimal conditions of alertness for rapid respond- ing differ from those for the best memory performance IPosner, 1975). Unfortunately. the committee did no( find time to ex- plore the evidence for the wide variety of specific training 4. Following on that recommendation, an experiment is underway at the Rcdslnne Arsenal in Alahama to evaluate mental practice as a com- ponent in the training of complex soldering I. elecnnonic circuits. Landers guided the design of condiiinnx that will permit a comparison t mental-practice. pticcbo. and standard.truning groups. or induction methods that might provide a basis for tech- niques for manipulating internal states. it recommended a literature review of links between such techniques and changes in performance and, in its next phase, will ex- amine further the techniques of intensive meditation and self-hypnosis. The committee considered issues of brain asymmetry in detail. It reviewed Hemi-Sync, in part through a visit by Springer. Thompson, Druckman, and Lawrence to the Monroe Institute in Virginia where it was developed. Al- though this technique is said to be valuable in therapeutic settings (pain control in cancer patients. alcohol abuse, retardation. autism, and seizure disorders) and though formal research designs have been approximated for its application in a few educational settings (courses in basic broadcasting. car training, and introductory psychology). the committee concluded that current attempts to alter performance through coordinating the two hemispheres by an external or instructional device do not appear to be effective. It observed, more generally, that the scientific evaluation of claims for enhancing performance by in- volving the hemispheres differentially awaits the devel- opment of reliable measures of hemispheric activity in individuals. Stress Management The clear thrust of the evidence from various types of research on stress, from animal studies as well as human studies, is that an individuals uncertainty about impend- ing events and sense of control over them are the main factors in perceived stress. This conclusion is supported by the extensive review paper on stress and performance prepared for the committee by Seymour Levine tsee foot- note 2). A case in point is the study of hormonal and behavioral responses of Norwegian paratroop trainees as they made repeated jumps from a tower on a guide wire (Ursin, Baadc, & Levine, 1978). Initially high elevations of cortisone in the blood were reduced to basal levels after the, second jump and fear ratings changed similarly, The implications of this research evidence for the army are complex. There surely are practical limitations on how much knowledge and understanding of the future can be disseminated during combat and on how much individual or group control can he permitted or demon- strated. Moreover, though the committee focused prima- rily on stress reduction, the arm , must also induce str_csti4 during training to prepare soldiers for real combat. A y ovaco, C-00-cot, and Samson (1983) showed that providing marine recruits with more realistic information about what lies in store for them, and about the skills necessary for coping with the rigors of boot camp, led them to exhibit higher expectations of personal control and efficacy. Approved For Release 200piOt&0a-tctCJ DR96-00789R002200650001-6 Enhancing Human Performance The committee reviewed individual and intrapsychic approaches to stress reduction. including arousal reduc- tion (relaxation training and biofeedback), cognitive re- structuring and problem solving, and behavioral skills training. Regarding biofeedback. on which a conclusion was specifically requested of the committee, it was found that although biofeedback can achieve a reduction of muscle tension. it does not reduce stress effectively, Committee members' appreciation of military stress was enhanced by a visit to Fort Denning, Georgia, where they viewed paratroop training (and arranged. and then mercifully aborted. an opportunity for David Goslin to make a jump). They saw Bradley vehicles maneuvering under tire and then rode in one. They also heard a pre- sentation and viewed a videotape on the extraordinarily demanding and stressful procedures of Ranger training, which centers on several weeks of long daily marches over difficult and hazardous terrains under severe envi- ronmental conditions. Influence Strategies The committee's treatment of strategies of social in- fluence centered on neurolinguistic programming (N LP). NLP's wide use in the army was described by army rep- resentative Robert Klaus in two briefings; a background paper by Pruitt, Crocker, and Hanes was recruited by the committee (footnote 2); and Singer, Davison. Mobley, hibits breakdown, without regard to the research com- munity's ability to demonstrate relationships ("The New Manning System Field Evaluation," 1986, No. ), p. 91. Peters and Waterman's In Search of Excellence (1982) may represent civilian scholars in this regard, and indeed. the research community has been supportive to a degree (e.g., Campbell, 1975: Katz & Kahn. 1966). The committee, however, believed that the arguments in favor ought to be treated as hypotheses rather than conclusions, citing difficulties in separating conse- quences and indicators of cohesion, the gap between im- proved cohesion and better unit performance, the ten, dency to rely on single-factor explanations of group performance, and the possibility of reciprocal effects be? tween cohesion and performance. The current evidence makes it necessary for organizations seeking to benefit from cohesion to proceed largely on faith; the committee referred to some possible negative consequences of co- hesion as reviewed by Porter, Lawler, and Hackman (1975): ineffective handling of deviance, "group think," increased impact of any existing negative norms, and increased intergroup conflict. The committee also dis? cussed issues of implementation that it saw as having received little attention. A background paper by Tamir and Kunda (footnote 2) developed implications from the cultural perspective advanced by Schein (1985). and Druckmann attended a workshop on NLP techniques parapsychology and interviewed Richard Dandier, one of the developers that little if any evidence The subcommittee on parapsychology made its prin- l usion was of NLP. The conc exists either to support NLP's assumptions or to indicate cipal site visits to the laboratories of Robert _Jahn at 1 fluence Princeton University and-Helmut Schmidt in San Anto? in f or soda that it is effective as a strategy NLP has also been used as a means to model expert ' nio to discuss experiments on the psychokinetic control performance and the committee's visit to Fort. Bcnning of randuni event geueratufs. E.4perlllleiits U11 Icuwi included a review of a test of this aspect of NLP as ap- viewing were also discussed at Princeton. Hyman and plied to marksmanship. Though the committee could find Humphreys were joined on both visits by Dr. Paul Hor ~ only one evaluation of NLP as a model of expert perfor- witz, a consultant to the committee and a physicist at manse, and found that one wanting, it did conclude that Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., who had organized a the investigation of expert models nstitutes a worth- 1979 symposium on "Physics and Parasychology;' for while activity for the army, and thecontinuing committee the American Physical Society that included as speakers ~- -- Helmut Schmidt and Ray Hyman. Also visiting Professor plans to pursue that topic. D k an awrence and Paul Holland, then m Group Cohesion The army is quite committed to developing group co- hesion. Its current COHORT system of keeping units intact is motivated by the desire to enhance group per- formance by increasing group cohesion. The chair of the committee's resource advisory group, Lieutenant Gen- eral Robert M. Elton, and the commander of the Army Research Institute, Colonel William Darryl Henderson, have written in support of it (Elton, 1984; Henderson, 1985). A technical report from the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research points out that civilian scholars as well as senior military officers- accept that cohesion in- . Jahn were roc a member of the committee. Hyman visited Edward May at the Stanford Research Institute to discuss experiments on random event generators and remote viewing. Hyman and Horwitz were briefed by representatives of the U.S. Army Laboratory Command on parapsychology and mil- itary intelligence; Druckman and Swets were briefed on Soviet parapsychology by representatives of the Army l) Foreign Science and Technology Center and the Defense Intelligence Agency. In connection with a meeting heldin San Diego, the entire committee, kindly accompanied by local psychology professors George Mandler and William McGill, visited the laboratory of Cleve Dackster who sug. r ? VOL. 1, NO. 2, :MARCH !9 VO 90 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789 0 200650001-6 I Wdibw com- N ew p. 9). 1982) ;seed, egree nents than )nse- n im- ten- Iroup is be- ience en.efit nittee )f Co- kman ink," and dis- ,aving Pamir m the prin- .hn at Anto- ontrol -mote n and I Hor- :ist at .zed a i? for Approved For Release 2000/0'81091LICI*ob -00789R002200650001-6 John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjork gents that the electrical activity of it preparation of leu- well, changes in certain bits (from zeros to ones or vice kocytes taken from the mouth of a human subject re- versa) of predetermined and otherwise completely repro- sponds to the emotional states of the subject, at a later ducible sequence-, as generated by an array of shift reg- time and in a different place. For this visit, the promise to isters. the committee, not fulfi e . was an observable demon- At his Mind Science Foundation in Sari Antonio. Dr. stration of anomalous events. Schmidt described an experiment designed to permit a Visitors to Professor Jahn's laboratory were shown skeptical group of scientists to apply adequate controls to how subjects sit in front of one of three kinds of random I a .psychokinesis experiment without destroying the psy- . t b tte nd .... __- .. _ _. _.._. . _ ~ t m p a event geneI 13%o1 a a device in one of three ways; In the PK + mode, the sub- searchers to be critical for obtaining positive results. iect tries to get a higher than chance level of hits: in PK - c groups use a piece of ata not yet avtu a e e.g., m s at some k T Y ' i e or yew mode, a lower than chance level: and in baseline mode, a specified weather data from the number of hits equal to the chance level. Under volitional agreed upon future date) as a pointer into a given table of inditions, the subject is free to select among the three 'random numbers, which will generate "seed numbers" to modes: under instructed conditions, he or she is not. a pseudorandom number generator and hence produce a Horwitz observed that the investigators reported no dif- predetermined sequence of ones and zeros. Both groups ierences in results occasioned by it transition from a true follow a set procedure to assign PK and PK - modes to random event generator (an analogue electronic device or the seed numbers and thereby instructions for the sub- ,amechan1cal device) to a pseudorandom event generator ject. An agreement made during the site visit to conduct '(adigital, programmed device) that is actually determin- a joint experiment with Dr. Horwitz as participant, which istic and nonrandom. They believed that their subjects would be monitored by the committee, was not followed could will changes in a voltage or voltage threshold of a up by Dr. Schmidt. noise source or changes in the trajectories of small ball c c mrttee benefited from it review of the litera- taIlina down a chute with multiple obstacles and, equally tore on remote viewing and random event generators pre- 'illiam 10 sug- to right: Davison, Bjork, Posner, Hyman. Schneider, Swcts, Landers, Mobley. Portcr. Druckman. Hum- phreys, Thompson, Springer. and Singer. 'H 1990 ( VOL. 1, NO. 2, MARCH 1990 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6