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Chapter 7 in Advanced Decision Architectures for the Warfighter: Foundations and Technology ; The discipline of human factors and ergonomics emerged as a direct result of problems encountered in military systems during World War II. Advances in technology (e.g., radar and sonar) created new capabilities and opportunities; it also created the potential for new kinds of failures (some subtle, some spectacular). Military contexts continue to be a proving ground for technological innovation. For example, a wide variety of new forms of data have become available for today's military decision makers (e.g., fuel and ammunition levels in individual vehicles, sensor data, sattelite and UAV imagery, etc.). Similarly, advances in graphical display and interface technology (e.g., high-resolution, bit-mapped screens) provide new options in the presentation of these data. Together, these new technological advances provide the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of military operations.

Research has shown that the sleep patterns and sleep requirements of adolescents and young adults are distinctly different from those of other age groups.

2004 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, The power if Information Age Concepts and Technologies ; Evaluating situation awareness (SA) in military command and control systems continues to be a challenge. Researchers who assess SA often rely on self-report measures which may be suspect. Many techniques involve disrupting the flow of activity, to the dismay of the decision makers. Several SA measures rely on subject matter experts to evaluate the responses of decision makers. Further, many researchers evaluate SA as if it were a state rather than a process. They talk about SA at a particular point in time in terms of percentages, comparing what was reported by the decision maker to what should have been known.

The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsz067.227 ; In 2003, a four-year longitudinal study was launched to assess Cadet sleep patterns in the United States Military Academy (USMA) Class of 2007. Results confirmed that Cadets received significantly less sleep than recommended for their age group. The present study is a follow-on to the 2003 research, and included two components: (1) a cross-sectional survey, and (2) a longitudinal study tracking the sleep of a representative sample of Cadets. We present the findings from the survey. ; Study funded by the United States Military Academy. ; Study funded by the United States Military Academy.

Research involving sleep and fatigue in military operations has been conducted for many years. Indeed, following nearly every major military engagement or conflict, reports are published which detail the effects of sleep deprivation on human performance. Unfortunately, many of these reports never make it to the scientific literature, and are published instead as technical reports. Following an extensive search of all available data sources including open scientific journals and electronic resources (e.g., military, psychological, medical, pharmacological, and biomedical journals or electronic resources), the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), and other government information sources, this annotated bibliography represents an effort to put together a comprehensive, although not exhaustive, description of all such studies that were conducted between the years 1983 and 2006. The bibliography covers research involving military personnel in operational environments including combat, observations during military exercises, findings on fatigue in laboratory settings, including with simulated military tasks, findings on fatigue in simulations, and findings on sustained (SUSOPS) and continuous operations (CONOPS). When available and deemed appropriate, the original abstracts from the citations were used. If no abstract was available from the original work, the authors developed one. ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1555343412440696 ; Two alternative interfaces developed for military command and control were evaluated. The theoretical frameworks and concepts used during their development are discussed, and the findings are related to larger issues in display, interface, and system design. Key aspects of cognitive systems engineering (CSE) and ecological interface design (EID) are discussed. An ecological interface was designed with principles of direct perception, direct manipulation, and visual momentum. An experimental version of an existing interface was also developed. An experiment was conducted with a synthetic task environment that incorporated scenarios of tactical operations. Participants were experienced army officers. Dependent variables included status reports for friendly and enemy resources and activities, subjective workload, and information access. Significant results favoring the ecological interface were obtained for six of seven dependent measures. The ecological interface was easy to learn, easy to use, and dramatically more effective than the existing interface. The results are interpreted from the CSE-EID perspective, but insights from naturalistic decision making and situation awareness are also described. The specific design features of the ecological interface are directly applicable to military command and control and similar domains; the overall CSE-EID approach is applicable to interface design for all work domains.

PROCEEDINGS of the HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS SOCIETY 50th ANNUAL MEETING, 2006 ; The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1177/154193120605000517 ; Digital command and control systems have contributed to the success of the U. S. military in combat in recent years. Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) and Blue Force Tracker are examples of systems that have provided an advantage on the battlefield. However, interface design of these systems has not been optimal, especially when they are employed in high stress and mobile environments. The present study examined the effects of input device (touch screen or trackball), button size (small, medium, large), and road conditions (still, highway, off-road) on performance. The dependent variables were accuracy, reaction time, and motion sickness. The experimenters tested seven undergraduate freshmen from the U.S. Military Academy. The data show that a touch screen monitor with large button size is optimal for moving vehicles. These findings have important implications for the design of human-machine systems expected to operate on the move.

NPS NRP Executive Summary ; A significant percentage of active duty service members (ADSMs) spends free time playing video games. This recreational activity is not unexpected given the relatively young age of many ADSMs and the prevalence of video gaming in the US population. The military operational environment, however, is characterized by high levels of occupational stress and poor sleep conditions which can result in increased risk of depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. In such conditions, video games may be a strategy for coping with stress. In contrast, excessive video gaming can become problematic because it has the potential to affect well-being and behavior. For example, excessive video gaming is associated with high stress levels (Milani et al., 2018), lower psychosocial well-being and psychological functioning (von der Heiden et al., 2019), loneliness and depression (Lemmens et al., 2011), and delinquency and aggressive behavior (Milani et al., 2018; Engelhardt et al., 2011; Ewoldsen et al., 2012). Video gaming may also interfere with sleep when gamers stay up late playing video games instead of sleeping (Matsangas, Shattuck, & Saitzyk, 2020). In extreme cases, video gaming can become an addiction. In the scientific literature, Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is associated with poor emotion regulation, impaired prefrontal cortex functioning and cognitive control, poor working memory and decision-making capabilities, and a neuronal deficiency similar to substance-related addictions (Kuss et al., 2018). Given its potential negative impact on individual and team performance, we propose to assess problematic video gaming in two samples: US Marine Corps personnel and US Navy sailors. Based on surveys and focus groups, the research approach will be tailored for the needs of each service. Data will be collected from personnel in up to three USMC commands, whereas data from USN sailors will be collected on two ships, one in port and one underway. The study will focus on assessing the prevalence and ...

This study examined the effect of alterations in the timing of sleep within the circadian cycle on the amount of total nightly sleep and its influence on various indicators of mood and performance of U.S. Army Soldiers attending Basic Combat Training (BCT) at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The quasi-experimental study design compared Soldiers assigned to one of two training companies: a company using the standard BCT sleep regimen (8:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m.) or a company using a phase-delayed sleep regimen (11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.), the latter being more in line with the biologically driven sleep-wake patterns of adolescents. Demographic and psychophysiological measures were collected at the start of the study using standard survey instruments and methods. A random sample of approximately 24% of Soldiers wore wrist activity monitors to unobtrusively record sleep quantity and quality. Weekly assessments were made of subjective fatigue and mood throughout BCT. Data on physical fitness, marksmanship, and attrition from BCT were extracted from organizational training records. The study sample was comprised of 392 Soldiers, 209 in the intervention group and 183 in the comparison group. Based on actigraphic data, it was shown that Soldiers on the modified sleep schedule obtained 33 more minutes of total sleep per night than those on the standard sleep schedule. Soldiers in the intervention group reported less total mood disturbance relative to baseline, but the effect size was modest and diminished over the course of BCT. Improvements in Soldier marksmanship performance over a series of record fires was positively correlated with average nightly sleep during the week preceding the record fires, when basic marksmanship tasks were being learned. By the end of BCT, Soldiers in the comparison group were 2.3 times more likely to have occupationally significant fatigue and were 5.5 times more likely to report poor sleep quality, as assessed using validated survey instruments, than those in the comparison group. There was no effect of the sleep scheduling intervention on physical fitness scores or the relative risk for attrition. Overall, increasing sleep and concomitantly decreasing fatigue had a small but measurable influence on various indicators of Soldier functioning even after controlling for a variety of factors that affect performance. ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

Prepared for: Manpower and Reserve Affairs (M&RA), Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC) and the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations/21st Century Sailor Office (OPNAV/N17). This research is supported by funding from the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program (PE 0605853N/2098). NRP Project ID: NPS-21-M035-A. ; The overarching aim of the study was to assess attributes and aspects of video gaming in the United States Navy (USN) and Marine Corps (USMC). Data were collected from two USN surface ships (in port) and three commands of the USMC. Sailors completed a cross-sectional survey and a 10-day activity log. Marines completed the survey and participated in semi-structured focus groups. Response rates to the surveys ranged from ~7.5% for Marines to ~22.5% for Sailors. Respondents consisted of 86 Sailors and 927 Marines (age MD=24 years, 92.4% males, 84.2% enlisted). From the 1,013 ADSMs, 91.6% reported playing video games (VGs) (age MD=23 years, 94.3% males, 86.1% enlisted). The information provided in the Marine focus groups along with the survey data of both Marines and Sailors suggest that video gaming is highly prevalent in the military. Many ADSMs began playing video games at 7 or 8 years of age. In general, self-identified gamers used problem-focused and emotion-focused coping styles more frequently than dysfunctional coping styles. Recreation was the most frequently reported motivational dimension for playing VGs, followed by coping with stress. Respondents reported playing VGs at home/off duty more often than when on duty or when underway/deployed. Sailors seem to be more consistent than Marines in their gaming habits. Depending on the setting, gamers reported playing VGs on average 3.75-6 days in a typical week for ~2-3 hours/day. Gamers reported playing VGs generally later in the day (i.e., after work and before bedtime) with 5% to 18% of gamers sleeping later due to VGs. Most gamers reported playing VGs in their racks or the mess decks/common areas when deployed/underway. Gamers reported ...

Objective: A prototype interface was developed to support decision making during tactical operations; a laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the capability of this interface to support a critical activity (i.e., obtaining the status of friendly combat resources). Background: Effective interface design strategies have been developed for domains that have primarily law-driven (e.g., process control) or intent-driven (e.g., information retrieval) constraints. However, design strategies for intermediate domains in which both types of constraints are equally critical, such as military command and control, have not been explored as extensively. The principles of direct perception, direct manipulation, and perception-action loops were used to develop a hybrid interface design strategy ("perception-action icons") that was incorporated into the prototype interface. Methods: A qualitative tactical simulation and an alternative interface (an experimental version of an existing U.S. Army interface) were developed. Participants used both interfaces to provide estimates of friendly combat resources for three different categories of information at three different echelon levels. Results: The results were unequivocal, indicating that the interface with perception-action icons produced significantly better performance. Conclusion: The perception-action icon design strategy was very effective in this experimental context. The potential for this design strategy to be useful for other intermediate domains is explored. Application: Actual or potential applications of this research include both specific interface design strategies for military command and control and general interface design principles for intermediate work domains.

Cognitive Engineering methods were developed to enable human factors practitioners to understand and systematically support the cognitive work of people working "at the sharp end of the spear." Military members for whom DoD acquisition organizations develop systems are the quintessential "sharp end of the spear." This panel is proposed to share present-day experience from military and industry reflecting how pervasively Cognitive Engineering is contributing to research and development for the highly complex military systems being operated under conditions of stress, time pressure, and uncertainty today. The implications for human factors practitioners will be highlighted, both in terms of practices to continue and areas for improvement.

INNOVATIONS IN HUMAN SYSTEMS INTEGRATION TRAINING AND EDUCATION OF FUTURE PRACTITIONERS Lawrence G. Shattuck One mark of a healthy discipline or profession is the dynamic interplay between practitioners and the training and educational institutions that prepare the practitioners. An example of this interplay is when students and faculty engage in innovative research that pushes the boundaries of a discipline and practitioners can use the results of the research. Similarly, the innovations of the practitioners are passed back to the training and educational institutions where they are incorporated into the coursework. ; Human Systems Integration principles and methods can be used to help integrate people, technology, and organizations in an effective and efficient manner. Over the past decade, a wide range of tools, techniques, and technologies have been developed by federal agencies to achieve significant cost and performance benefits. In this discussion, we will explore trends in military human systems integration and learn about the critical role being played by human performance and effectiveness research. We will also examine case studies on the planning and design of future human space flight vehicles, the national air space system and the first nuclear reactors to be built in the United States in over 30 years. And with an eye toward sustaining the discipline's principles and methods, we'll take a look at educating and training the next generation of human systems integration practitioners.