PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE GIROQ ZAI 4 G0 17a. Bjork spats allowing them, for example, to leave ical ab choloe! dies and to walk through walls. (See, ¢.g., Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) is intended pri- marily to be a means of exerting influence over others. hei pe 1988.) These ideas and enhancement techniques The skilled practitioner is supposed to be able to deter- Sq ort mentioned above were advanced by an infor- | mine what representational system (e.g., visual, audi- of the oup of some 300 army officers known as the Delta | tory, or kinesthetic) another person is using at the mo- mal & (not to be confused with the antiterrorist unit hav- | ment—by observing his or her speech, eye movements, for ore same name). Several other task forces in the army | and posture—and then to frame communications to that ing ! organized in the 1970s to examine and promote the | person in terms of the particular representational system ere iques. in use. A national association is reported to have a mem- ter influential memo pulling much of this together for | bership of about 500 persons. itten in 1982 by General Thurman, then In 1983, an ad hoc subgroup of the Army Science e army was Wr ; Board, formed in response to General Thurman’s memo, issued a report supportive of further consideration of these techniques. The group had been exposed to them in an ‘“‘experiential workshop format” during a four-day jjeutenant general and deputy chief of staff for person- a 1, (Thurman went on to become a four-star general and ne” chief of staff, and was an architect of the army’s very e ne . : we ssful recruiting campaign with the slogan of ‘‘Be all suc you can be.’’) He subsequently led the army’s train- | meeting at the Monroe Institute of Applied Sciences, tha effort as commander of the Training and Doctrine | developer of Hemi-Sync. It recommended that formal Command. His memo identified ‘accelerated learning, | mechanisms be established to undertake a major effort on inferential focus, previsualization, psychokinetics and ‘‘human technologies,”’ that ‘technologies should be piokinetics, remote viewing, biophysical stress preven- sorted into those which require a scientific base and need tion. etc.”” as techniques that should be considered. It verifiable, repeatable data for evaluation versus those was based in part ona half-dozen commercially available which are more analytic representing principles of good that may be characterized as follows. practice and are evaluated by consensus, acceptance and techniques ‘ ; S Suggestive accelerative learning and teaching tech- niques (SALTT) combine physical relaxation, mental concentration, guided imagery, suggestion, and baroque music to improve classroom performance. The Journal of the Society for Accelerative Learning and Teaching pub- lishes evaluations of applications of SALTT to language training, typing instruction, high-school science courses, and so forth. Concentrix designates a specific procedure for training visual concentration on a target, broadly defined, and maximizing hand-eye coordination, balance, body con- trol, and sensory and visualization skills. It is intended for application not only to marksmanship but to the op- eration of complex equipment, movement over long dis- tances with the objectives of reducing fatigue, and intel- ligence gathering. Hemi-Sync,® short for hemispheric synchronization, consists of presenting tones of slightly different fre- quency to each ear to produce a beating sound. An EEG- measured brain response follows changes in the beat fre- quency and changing sound patterns are thought to change states of awareness. Recommended applications are for language learning, stress reduction, reading skills, problem solving, creativity, and sleep control. Stress-management techniques are designed to allevi- ate anxiety and tension and are implemented by self-help books and groups and by clinics. They often emphasize fitness, nutrition, and life styles, as well as strategies such as progressive relaxation and image rehearsal. Pro- moters claim an interactive effect and put forth a partic- ular package of techniques. overall effectiveness,”’ and, further, that research efforts be managed jointly by the Army Research Institute and the Medical R&D Command. In 1984, ARI, which reported then to General Thur- man, hired a program manager, commissioned review pa- pers on five techniques, and requested of the National Research Council that a committee examine the area. In 1985, ARI initiated research on several of the techniques and reviewed army research in progress elsewhere. THE COMMITTEE’S SPECIFIC FINDINGS Learning During Sleep The committee recommended that the army give sleep learning a ‘“‘second look.” Considering only the sleep- learning literature, there seemed little basis for any kind of positive recommendation. This conclusion was rein- forced in a detailed briefing by LaVerne Johnson of the Naval Health Research Center. When all possible criteria are applied to verify that the learner is truly asleep, there appears to be no evidence of conscious recognition or recall of materials presented during sleep (for a thorough review, see Aarons, 1976). In fact, since the mid-1970s research activity on sleep learning has nearly stopped, at least in this country. The committee, however, was influenced by recent developments in basic research on ‘‘implicit memory,” “‘stimulus-driven processing,”’ “learning without aware- ness,”’ and related topics (for reviews, see Richardson- Klavehn & Bjork, 1988; Schacter, 1987; Shimamura, 1986; and the commissioned paper by Eich, footnote 2). VOL. 1, NAPRPAvegdhor Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200640001-7 87
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 might take place. The committee’s primary recommendation was that the degree of learning of materials presented during sleep be 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 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. Accelerated Learning The committee focused primarily on one particular learning package, SALTT (Suggestive accelerative learn- ing and teaching techniques.) Literature in the Journal of the Society of Accelerative 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- 88 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE tion of the learner’s expectations in the SALTT CDVin ment (see footnote 2). The committee concluded that the extravagant q,. for accelerated learning programs are unjustified, Th . fectiveness of such programs did not exceed what be expected on the basis of the mainstream isa elements (for example, imagery, cooperative learns tests as motivational devices and learning events) thet embedded in a non-traditional framework includip, laxation exercises and special music. The COMMitteg g. feel, however, that there was value in the kind of ho’ approach to instruction exemplified by such Progra The army was encouraged to use its resources to evay competing training procedures in order to isolate th components of instruction that are effective in army ty tings. " Improving Motor Skills The committee focused on three strategies to enhay, motor skills: mental practice, visual concentration, biofeedback. A background paper by Feltz, Landers, Becker on the mental-practice literature was solicited: the committee (see footnote 2), and there were four brie ings: one on peak performance issues, and three by ey: perts on or promoters of visual-training techniques, ly addition, Landers and Bjork made site visits to the heag’ quarters of SyberVision® and to the Vic Braden Tenni’ Academy. SyberVision is a highly successful marketer g: audio and visual tapes designed to enhance skills sucha, golf, tennis, skiing, bowling, racquetball, and other,’ Tapes such as ‘‘The Neuropsychology of Achievemen: address more global skills. What is shown on the tapg, and the instructions to the learner are supposedly guided, by a principle of ‘‘neuromuscular programming,” whic: is in turn derived from Karl Pribram’s holographic theory: of brain function. The subcommittee interviewed Pr.? bram, director of research for SyberVision, and Steph, DeVore, founder and president. 4 With respect to mental practice, defined as ‘‘the sym; bolic rehearsal of a physical activity in the absence of any gross muscular movements’’ (Richardson, 1967, p. 99), 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 ay! propriate controls. The gain is somewhat greater for mes tor tasks that incorporate a substantial cognitive COMpe | nent, and the advantages of mental practice can be, enhanced if physical practice and mental practice are it ’ terspersed. The committee recommended that the army, evaluate mental practice as a training component in oP erational military tasks, and that the army pursue basis ee Raa a research to determine what mixture of mental and phys} Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789R00220064900 4n7 2, Marcu 1 ’
nme — a eelll oem f ieee none, vehiimiiest = eMengininen RNA, <NNNOICNO, g E o NN PSN, -ON sMTD, TN  O i wn S actice might be optimal (given considerations of se, equipment availability, and so forth).* exp acerning visual-training programs, the committee co ded that there was no research base to suggest that’ cone training leads to improved performance. There is gue nce that certain visual abilities can be improved by viene the eye muscles, but evidence that attentional int can be enhanced by visual training is lacking. Ki committee concluded that there remain too many ™ ends for the relationship between biofeedback and med performance to be determined. Part of the prob- sil is that biofeedback is often used as part of broader ¢ apeutic programs that incorporate other, possibly ef- tne, techniques. Another problem is that biofeedback fee ed to train physiological parameters (heart rate, for ) although clear knowledge of the most desirable these parameters with respect to a given skill t pically does not exist. In cases where that relationship i known (¢.8-, hand warmth and finger dexterity), there is evidence of performance benefit. ic jevels of 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 perfor- mance of a given complexity (Duffy, 1962; Yerkes & 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 of 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- ylated 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 comes from the finding that the optimal conditions of alertness for rapid respond- ing differ from those for the best memory performance (Posner, 1975). Unfortunately, the committee did not 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 Redstone Arsenal in Alabama to evaluate mental practice as a com- ponent in the training of complex soldering of electronic circuits. Landers guided the design of conditions that will permit a comparison of mental-practice, placebo, and standard training groups. ~ VOL. 1, NO. Apprrayed For Release 2001/03/07 : PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE OYKRUYU JU64ZUU0UUT- John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjork 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, 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 of hormonal and behavioral responses of 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 army must also induce stress during training to prepare soldiers for real combat. A study by Novaco, Cook, and Sarason (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. CIA-RDP96-00789R002200640001-7 89