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John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjork
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wn
i
ical practice might be optimal
(given considerations of
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
loose 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
iherapeutic programs that incorporate other, possibly ef-
ftciivu
. 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 cases where that relationship
isknown (c.g., hand warmth and fingct
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
foi
perfor-
mance of a given complexity
(Duffy.
1962; \erkes &
Dodson.
1908)
and,
specifically,
the
optimal
level
de-
creases
as
task complexity
increases
(Easterbrook.
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 o( a diffuse activating sys-
tem
in the brain (Moruzzi & Magoun,
1949). However,
with new knowledge of the variety and specificity of neu-
rotransmitter systems (Robbins & Everitt. 1982) 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-
luiated by different transmitter systems
in varying ways
makes
it more difficult to suppose that any training tech-
nique will provide optimal states for all terms ot physical
and mental activity. An example comes 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 not find time to ex-
plore the evidence for the wide variety of specific training
T Following on that recommendation, an experiment
is underway at
ihc Redstone Arsenal
in Alabama to evaluate mental practice as a com-
ponent
in
the
training
of complex
soldering of elecivomc
circuits.
Linders guided the design of conditions that
will permit a comparison
i
men Uil-practice, placebo, and standard. training groups.
or induction methods that might provide a basis tor tech-
niques for manipulating internal slates.
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, ear 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 individual
s 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 (see foot-
note
2). A case
in
point
is the study
ot hormonal and
behavioral responses ot Norwegian paratroop trainees as
they made repeated jumps from a tower on a guide wire
(Ursin, Baade. & 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 be permitted or demon-
strated. Moreover, though the committee focused prima-
rily on stress reduction, the arm y must also induce ltx£S£-»
durinu
training
to
prepare
soldiers
for
real comba t
. A
•-sttnjyiSy'l^ovacSrC^
TT98
) 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.
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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 bioteedback, 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 Benning, 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 fire and then rode in one. They also heard a pre-
sentation and viewed a videotape on the extraordinarily
demanding and stressful procedures ol 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 (NLP).
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,
and Druckmann attended a workshop on NLP techniques
and interviewed Richard Bandler, one of the developers
of NLP. The conclusion was that
little
if any evidence
exists either to support NLP’s assumptions or to indicate
that
it
is effective as a strategy for social influence.
NLP has also been used as a means to model expert
performance and the committee’s
visit
to Fort Benning
included a review of a test of this aspect ot NLP as ap-
plied to marksmanship. Though the committee could find
only one evaluation of N LP as a model of expert perfor-
mance. and found that one wanting,
it did conclude that
the investigation of expert models ^nsfit utes
a worfh-
while activity for the army, and thq' continuing c oirmiittee,.
plans to pursue that topic.
Group Cohesion
The army
is quite committed to developing group co-
hesion.
Itscurrent 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 scholais as
well as senior military officers accept
that cohesion
in-
hibits breakdown, without regard
to
the research com-
munity’s ability to demonstrate relationships ("The New
Manning System Field Evaluation,"
1986, No.
3,
p.
9).
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
:
ie.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 Tamtr
and Kunda (footnote 2) developed implications from the
cultural perspective advanced by Schein (1985).
Parapsychology
The subcommittee on parapsychology made
its
prin-
cipal
site
visits
to
the
laboratories ofjk^ertjahn at_
Princeton University
1 and ^Helmut Schmi dt
in San Anto-
'Hio to discuss experiments on the psychokinetic control
,
u>r raiidum event
generators.
Experiments uu
remote
j
viewing were
also discussed
at Princeton. Hyman and
j
Humphreys were joined on both visits b y Dr. _Paul Hor-,
|
witZj a consultant
to the committee and
a
physicist
at
i
Bolt Beranek and Newman
Inc., who had
organized
a
1979 symposium on " Physics and Parapsychology,"
for;
the American Physical Society that included as speakers
j
Helmut Schmidt and Ray Hyman. Also visiting Professor
-
Jahn were Druckman'. Lawrence, and Paul Holland, then
j
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.
j
Army Laboratory Command on parapsychology and
mil-
j
itary intelligence; Druckman and Swets were briefed on
Soviet parapsychology by representatives
of the Army
j
(
Foreign Science and Technology Center and the Defense
j
Intelligence Agency. In connection with a meeting held in
j
San Diego, the entire committee, kindly accompaniedi bv
j
local psychology professors George Mandler and William
(
McGill, visited the laboratory of Cleve Backster whosus-
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1, NO.
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com-
New
p.
9).
1982)
deed,
egree
nents
than
pnse-
n im-
:
ten-
jroup
ts be-
ience
enefit
nittee
}f co-
kman
ink,"
. and
a
dis-
.aving
Tamir
m the
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John A. Swetx and Robert A. Bjork
[
gcsts that
the
electrical activity of a preparation of leu-
kocytes taken from
the mouth of a human
subject
re-
sponds to the emotional
states ot
the subject,
at
a
later
time and in a different place. For this visit, the promise to
the committee, not
fulfilled
, was an observable demon-
stration of anomalous events.
Visitors
to
Professor Jahn's
laboratory were shown
how subjects
sit in front of one of three kinds of random
event generators and attempt to affect the behavior of the
device in one of three ways;
in the PK + mode, the sub-
ject tries to get a higher than chance level ot hits; in PK -
mode, a lower than chance level: and in baseline mode, a
number of hits equal to the chance level. Under volitional
additions, the subject
is free to select among the three
modes: under
instructed
conditions,
he
or she
is
not.
Horntz Observed that the investigators reported no dif-
ferences in results occasioned by a transition from a true
random event generator fan analogue electronic device or
i a mechanical device) to a pseudorandom event generator
(a digital, programmed device) that
is actually determin-
istic and nonrandom. They believed
that
their subjects
I could will changes
in a voltage or voltage threshold of a
'noise source or changes
in the trajectories of small balls/j
falling down a chute with multiple obstacles and, equally
well, changes in certain
bits (from zeros to ones or vice
versa) of predetermined and otherwise completely repro-
ducible sequences as generated by an array of shift reg-
isters.
At his Mind Science Foundation
in San Antonio, Dr.
Schmidt described an experiment designed
to permit
a
skeptical group of scientists to apply adequate controls to
a psychokinesis experiment without destroying the psy
rholo pit'iil environment foULetubject
that
is said by
psi_
, Ssearc he r s
to be~c rilicaFfb r obtaining positive
results.
-ftortTgroupinrse a piece of data nofyet available (e.g.,
specified weather data from the New York Times at some
agreed upon future date) as a pointer into a given table of
fandom numbers, which will generate
seed numbers
to
a pseudorandom number generator and hence produce a
predetermined sequence of ones and zeros. Both groups
follow a set procedure to assign PK
-1- and PK - modes to
the seed numbers and thereby instructions for the sub-
ject. An agreement made during the site visit to conduct
a joint experiment with Dr. Horwitz as participant, which
would be monitored by the committee, was not followed
up by Dr. Schmidt
.
'
~
™TRFTTfrTirmtte^
from a review of the
litera-
ture oh remote viewing and random event generators pre-
to
right:
Davison. Bjork! Posner, Hyman. Schneider, Swets. Landers. Mobley.
Porter. Druckman. Hum-
phreys, Thompson, Springer, and Singer.
VOL.
1, NO. 2, MARCH
1990
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