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Enhancing Human Performance
nai August
5,
1986). The army, of course, will continue
to have serious needs for performance enhancement and
will continue to be bombarded by strong, new claims for
existing and new techniques. The lack of theoretical and
empirical support for many such techniques docs not
sti-
fle their ability to capture the imagination of consumers.
Still, the Condon Report of I96H on unidentified flying
objects was cited recently (Alexander.
1989) as continu-
ing
iff
fiOYsrnmc.nl
infc.rctst
in that snhiert
positive 'to "substitute. The continuing challenge to main-
stream psychology
will be
to
translate
its findings and
concepts
into practical enhancement techniques and
to
package
those
techniques
so
it can
"give psychology
away”_o r se ||
it,
for that matter. The committee's
ef-
forts, we submit, should be only an installment.
Acknowledgments—This
article
is based on
u study conducted by
the National Research Council for
t he Army Research Institute and
reported
in Druckman and Swcts (1088). The authors thank Daniel
Druckman. Edgar M. Johnson. Alvin M.
Liberman. Raymond
S.
Nickerson, and Jerome
E.
Singer
for comments on
a drali of the
article.
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Enhancing Human Performance
That research, employing amnesic as well as normal sub-
jects,
has
illustrated
that
certain
indirect
measures
of
memory
(tor 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-veritied
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 printing effects (facilitating postsleep acqui-
sition of material by presenting (hat 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
1980. 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
be expected on the basis of the mainstream instructional
elements
(for example,
imagery,
cooperative
learning,
j
tests as motivational devices and learning events) that are
j
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 ol 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.
In
addition, Landers and Bjork made site visits to the head-
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,
bowling,
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
j
by a principle of "neuromuscular programming." which
fmin K:irl Pribram ’s holoeraohic theorv
of brain
function. The subcommittee
interviewed
Pn-j
bram. director of research for SyberVision, and Stephen
i
DeVore. founder and president.
With respect to mental practice, defined as "the sym-
bolic rehearsal of a physical activity in the absence of any
J
gross muscular movements
(Richardson,
1967,
p.
95).
i
the committee’s recommendations w ere quite positive
. A
meta-analysis of the relevant research literature revealed
|
that mental practice yields a gain in performance on iht
j
order of half a standard deviation when compared to ap-J_
propriate controls. The gain
is somewhat greater for mo-
tor tasks that incorporate a substantial cognitive compo-
nent. and
the advantages of mental
practice cnnbej
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-
j
erational military tasks, and that the army pursue basic,
research to determine what mixture of mental and phys-
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