ORLANDO, Fla. – The story of the rock band that insisted on having all brown M&Ms candy removed from a snack they requested while on the road is not necessarily a story of demanding prima donnas.
Instead, consider the band’s seemingly unreasonable demand as a way to check the competence of their hosts when it comes to the details, said an expert in human thought processes during a presentation at I/ITSEC here. If the hosts get the M&Ms right, they are more likely to get much more important requirements right for the band, things the band may not have time to check themselves, he said.
There’s a lesson here for people involved in training others who work in high-pressure environments, said Chris Forsythe of the Human Factors organization at Sandia Laboratories. He specializes in using technology to improve people’s performance and neurophysiological factors that affect human performance. He spoke on Cognitive Neuroscience in Military Education and Training at I/ITSEC on Monday afternoon.
He presented several findings from neuroscience that can apply directly to military training, in areas such as attention, learning and memory, information processing and multitasking.
Here are some of the findings Forsythe described for an audience of service members and industry representatives:
■ “If a student knows what to expect, the brain often fills in the gaps,” Forsythe said, and that can influence a choice between high-fidelity and low-fidelity training systems. The more experienced student is better equipped to fill in the gaps, so a low-fidelity training system may be the better choice. The novice hasn’t had enough experience to make the connections needed in the learning environment, and may need a system that fills in more detail for them. When they reach a level of experience, their brains will fill in the missing pieces.
■ When people feel stressed or out of control, they are more likely to see patterns where none actually exist, Forsythe said, showing on a large screen two images of seemingly random marks, only one of which had an identifiable object. Pointing to an image with many marks, he said no actual patterns or shapes exist there, but someone who has just been through a stressful experience, or just an annoying one, is more likely to say they see an object there.
■ In complex operations, many factors may unconsciously affect decisions, and individual responses should be taken into consideration. That’s why an after-action review of an operation is key to understanding why certain decisions were made during the action.
■ In a team environment, the team’s performance is boosted by more verbal interaction rather than less. Words spoken and ideas shared among team members should be encouraged, because the more widespread the interaction, the more successful the team is likely to be. Team members have a better conscious awareness of their other team members.
■ Trainers should use “violation of expectations” to prevent complacency among trainees. “The brain is strongly sensitive to violations of expectations,” Forsythe said. Disrupting those is a way of getting people’s attention back on track.
■ Similarly, punishment that is predictable leads to very little response if any when dealing with undesirable outcomes or behaviors. “For good performance, the most effective rewards are those that are unexpected,” Forsythe said. ■
Email: kcurthoys@armytimes.com.
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