This data is matched with information collected during a psychomotor vigilance test in which a subject holds a box that is dropped within the volunteer's hands. The equipment then measures the response time in grabbing the item. Col. Belenky says. Current data suggests that apparent and actual changes in performance are dramatically different, and performance and productivity decreases precede accidents and catastrophic failures. The civilian sector, including the transportation industry, has adopted many of these predictors because of the loss of productivity caused by fatigue.
Accidents are just the tip of the iceberg.
You can see where the costs are there. An invisible factor in the physiological equation is stress. Rather than relying on personal assessment of the amount of stress a subject is experiencing, Meyerhoff's work involves collecting validated measures of stress and developing a model that includes physiological, psychological and biochemical information. To collect this data, soldiers preparing to go before the promotion board or interviewing for the soldier of the month award are asked if they would be willing to be monitored. As with all of the studies being conducted in the project, only volunteers are allowed to participate in the exercises.