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1990
Approved For Release 2000/08/Q8ioU^AvRBf?S6fc00789R00
General Article
ENHANCING HUMAN
PERFORMANCE:
An Evaluation of “New Age”
Techniques Considered by the
!
U.S.
I
.
i
by John A. Swets
—
|
Unconventional techniques
considered by
the
United Stores
,
Army for enhancing human performance were reviewed during
I
a two-year study by a committee of the National Research
|
Council.
Little or no scientific evidence was found to support
,
the effectiveness of several, including neurolinguistic program-
I
mm?
in interpersonal influence and such paranormal tech-
j
niqtiw as remote
viewing and psychokinesis. Mixed results
i
wire seen to characterise otherjechniques. for example, group-
(
cohesion procedures. Further study was suggested for a few.
*
Minding mental practice of motor skills. Guidelines requested
of the committee for future army evaluation of enhancement
techniques stressed the need for. and the conduct of. both lab-
oratory and field research. The committee rec ommended fur-
|
] ther consideration of mainstream research
in the behavioral
,
| telenets as a basis for effective performance enhancements.
I
|
Five
years ago
the Army
Research
Institute
(A R I
)
asked the National Research Council to assess a field of
|
techniques designed to enhance human performance. As
I
a class, these techniques arc 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
tcch-
,
tuques, to recommend appropriate criteria for evaluating
I
such techniques, and. where possible, to specify the re-
j
search necessary
to advance
understanding of perfor-
)
rnance enhancements in areas of behavior related to the
'
proposed techniques.
In pursuing
this
line of investiga-
|
lion, the ARI was reacting
to broad and substantial ad-
vocacy in the army of trying to gain large enhancements
I
of human performance by any conceivable means.
,
|
The army's interests, as summarized by ARI. included
| more efficient
learning, improved motor
skills,
altered
|
I
]
Address correspondence and
reprint
requests
to John
A.
Swets.
I
Bolt Bcranek and Newman,
Inc..
10 Moulton Street. Cambridge, MA
1)2138, or to Robert A. Ujork. Department of Psychology, University of
California, Los Angeles. CA 9(K)24.
Army
and Robert A. Bjork
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 thai 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 parapsychulogical 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 (o these New Age techniques in commer-
cially available programs of general training and self help.
The army's.interest in extending human abilities through
parapsychological processes originated primarily in intel-
ligence circles
rather than
in
training circles,
but
para-
i
VOL
I NO
1 MARCH
1990
Copyright
1990 American Psychological Society
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6