Approved For Release 2000/OOMoLC4,A-4RDP96siOO789ROO.!,~~g6~M -6 General Article et her is ap- rItp- gIi I) icture APS /erlap xperi- -alth- hat is reas e em- Q the r De. kPA. Iged. ewer . was tune. ks." "W i a - t1i".'Can nerican Human i all, j !%nizing it iviany ]logical ;Y: Will 3 2'xec- PERFORMANCE: An Evaluation of "New Age" Techniques Considered by the U. S. Army by John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjork [Incom-entional iechnique.v conshilered by the United States Armyfor enhancing hunian perfi)rtncin(Le iverr, riwie'wed diering 0 As;f~-Year stud), by a coironil;ee e)j' the Alutional flexearch Council. Little or no scientific el-idence wasfinind to support the effectiveness of several. including neurolinguixtif - pri)A)ram- tiling in interpersonal ir(fluenct, and such paranorinal Iech- niqaes as retrwte viriving and ps)lchokine.i-is. Afixed reiidt.y ,ere seen to chargicferi.-.e orherterhniquey,jor exatnple.yroup- cohesion procedures. Further stud), was suggevied fi.)r a J'evv, 14 g atenral practive tj *f Pnor4.-ir.4ills. Gaidelinv,i requested i dadin o,f the conintitive jorfuturv armY evoluation lerhrlique.~.vtressed the needjor. and the conthict o ,f. h,-)th lub- aratorY andfleld research. The ci,inviiinee llec,Ontlnendedfi~r- ther consideration o/' mainstream re.vearch in /he belluvioral i(lencej as a baii.~ ftir e.fl~,(-Yive peifi'Mation -e enhancenrents. I - i.~ Five years ago the Army Research Institute (ARI) asked the National Research Council to assess a field of techniques designed to enhance human performance. As I I aclass, these techniques are extraordinary in that they !were developed outside of mainstream rc!search in the behavioral sciences and are accompanied by strong ~clalrns for high effectiveness. The ARI wanted a commit- v to examine the potential of certain specified tech- to ecommend appropriate criteria for evaluating such techniques, and, where possible, to specify the re- search necessary to advance understanding of perfor- j1 mince enhancements in areas of behavior related to the proposed techniques. In pursuing this line of investiga- lion, the AR I was reacting to broad and substantial ad- ~,ocacy in the army of trying to gain large enhuncements othuman perrormance by any conceivable means. The army's interests, as summarized by AR I. included i,,nore efficient learning. improved motor skills, altered I Address con-c,4poridence and reprint rcques(s to John A. Swels. Boll Bcranek and Newman, Inc.. 10 Moullon Street, Cambridgc, MA 0.1138, or to Robert A. Bjork, Department of Psychology, Univcr5ily of California, Los,Anseles, CA 9(.K)24. ENHANCING HUMAN 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 that purpose, and that motor.skills might be enhanced by guided imagery, mental pract ice, visual con- centranon. and biofeedback. Further, it wished to pursue bility that mental states could be altered by self- the POSSi induced hypnoti-sm, meditation, focused concentration,. or the integration of activity in the brain's hemispheres, in arder to promote periods of peak performance. The army was also interested in whether bicifeedback and m ethodg that plirport to alter mental qates might be use- ful in managing s(ress. Certain aspects of interpersonal and group processes were under examination as well, including whether group cohesion, which might be fbs- tered by keeping army units intact, enhance,,, group and individual performance. Finally, the army had an interest in such parapsychological processes as reinote 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 1960%. 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 mark3manship, second-language learning, and sleep inducement. The army is not alone in this interest: Private indUstry dnd the general public have alt~o given much attention (c) these New Age techniques 'in commer- cially available programs of general training and selfhelp, The army*~Jnterest in extending human abilities through parapsychological processes, originated primarily in intel- ligence circles rather than in training circles, but para- i 1 1990 VOL. 1, NO 2. MARCH 1990 Copyright cl 1990 Anneric-an Ps~,chological socielv 85 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6 Approved For Release 2000/08/08: CIA-R.P,,~,9p-00789ROO2200650001-6 PSYC1--f0I,0(jl(.AL S Enhancing Human Performance psychology soon became a bedfellow Of the Unconven. tional training techniques in the arm\,. FORMATION OF THE NRC COMMITTEE In conversations between Edgar M. Johnson. techni- cal director of ARL iiind David A. Goslin, then executive director of the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sci. ences and Education (CBASSE) of the NRC, and in 8 formal letter recluem, it was indicated that the ARI lead. ership wanted help, not only to reduce broad pressures on it that had recently intensified, but also with an im- portant national problem of interest to private industry and Ific public its well as the military, CBASSE members who evaluated this request included psychologists Wil- liam K. Estes, Ira J. Hirsh, Lauren Resnick, and Stanley Schachter. In response to the request, CBASSE moved to set up a committee especially For the purpose, with suggestions. for particular kinds of expertise also from other advisers including psychologists Robert Boruch, Wendell R. Garner, Bert F, Green, and Gardner Lind,/ey. The first author of this article was enlisted as committee chair and, together with Goslin, he developed the final recommendations for memberghip that were endorsed by the commission.' Daniel Druck-man xas appointed ~is the committee's ~cudy director. The Committee on Techniques for the Enhancement of Human Performance (henceforth. the committee) met first in late July 1985. ARI's Johnson along with George Lawrence, its liaison to the committee, arranged for Sey- eral speakers at the first meeting, who informed i1nd ,-,ometimes perplexed the members. A few speakers de- scribed single techniques, others waxed enthusiastic about the full range of them. and one, a retired general, -spoke eloquently of his own cxtensive p~ychokinetic powers, General Maxwell R, Thurman was the motivational speaker at dinner the first evening. His graphs demon- strated that in terms of recruits,' test scores. the army wa~; doing increasingly be(ter, and also better compared to the other services, His review of the traditional and growing demands placed on soldiers, however, mude c1ear that these demands continued to outstrip abilities by a large margin. TliE COMMITTEE'S APPROACH The committee could easily imagine the great difficul- ties fuced in converting recruil.~, Most of them with min- 1. Tht commiUcc consimed of John A, S%k-ct,, chair, Rjb%!rt A t~iork, Thonn;~-, 0. Cook, (jerald C. Diivison. Lloyd G. Huniphrcys Ray Hyman. Daniel M. Landcrs, Sttndra A Mobley, 1,ynian W, Pqrtcr Michael 1. Posner, Wiltcr Schneider, Jerome E, Sirigcr, Sal)y P Springer. and Richard F Thomp~on. 86 imal education as v~ell as, ~short terms or duty, into so)- dierg who possess the personal and social skills needed in battle as well as the technical skills, needed to operate and maintain complex equipment. It could understand urgcs to look beyond slow. narrow, and insufficiently targeted mainstream research on human performance to enhance. ments that could come from elsewhere. And it was aware that those in the army responsible for training and tech. nique evaluation would face difficulties in responding to strong enhancement claims (both by arms officers and outside vendors) for diverse and far-ranging techniques The committee agreed that the general problem deseryed obJective and thorough examination and was willing to initiate such a sludy. Subcommittees were formed on various facets of the problem. including evaluation issues, sleep learning, 2c. celerated learning, guided imagery, biofeedback, split. brain effec(5, stress Management, cohesion. influericc, and parapsychology. The committee met as a whole 5ix times in '2 years, in whole or part made ten site viii1s, invi(ed twenty or so briefings, and commission background review papers.' It met twice with a Re' source Advisory Group of army officer.~ formed for the purpose. ARMY 13ACKGROUND The iirmy',s interest in parapsychology is reported to be longstanding. Including, for example, sponsorshipof E&P research by J.13. Rhine in the early 19.~Os. Remote viewing experiments were conducted for the army b~ the Stanford Resear h Instit te in the 1970s. A military con. u cern has been that the Soviets have been active in the development of psychic -abilities. including the ability 1() affect the behavior of others through mental telep~ Dh-. A Fr-op-k-)~-aldeveloped in the army for t_h~ ~First Earth Bat- i talion envisioned warrior monks with it range of parapsy- 2. Teri corrinnimiaricd PuPer,,, ayailabit! from the National Academy Pres~, arc thcNc~ Eric E:ch. Learning during siccp, Rki~cri E Slavih, vrinQipicN (ir effective instruction; Nborah L. Feltz. Dante M Liinders. and Betsy 1. Beckcr. A rcvi.)cd mct6-rinalysis tit the mcnial practice Weralure on motor 5kij~ lciArritrigi Seymour Levine, Strosand performance; Raymond W, Novaco. Stress reduction and the milaxty; Dean (i, Vruiit. Jcrini(cr Crocker, and Deborah Hancs, Mhiching ad other infikicricc Boaz Tamir and Gidcon Kunda, Culture ed I militory performfince: Janie% E, Alcock, A~ cumprehensive review it major dMpirical siudi" in p-,irap4yrholk)gyT,_ ~oly,~g r,~,ndon, e,,~nfjv eralors and renime n , Monjc" J Harris ard Roberi RoscrtU,. - 7_ ~i~ inierperson7ir cxpcminvy Wects and human rerformancr mselim)i, Mile Griffin. InIvii6vt juOrrten( and the evaluaiion ofevidence. 3, The Resource Advihory Group consistcd o(gi!r1erA) officers wbo I hc1d the positions of Deputy Chicf of.~wfffor Per,.Onnel, Depu(~ Chicf 41f Staff for. Iti(elligencc. Dircclor kit Army Research and Technofiij~. Commander of the Soldicr Support Center, and Cornmandcr. \1tdjz;J Research ind ocvc1opment Command and as wcl) ilit Asm(ant Sec.': rclar.v of' thi; Army for Manpower and Rcscrvc Affuir%. VOL 1, NO. 2. M A it c( qi M qt cl ar pi at fit Su I rn~ ul; Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6 Appr_Qye-d For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6 PSYCHOLOCKAL SCIENCE John A. Swct,~; and Robert A. Sjork A- in rid Cs rdI rc h- to 'IJ I 1%. ed to he ic- [it- :e, Ix he to of it- he he to A at- ;V. And Lry: kn,j ,ind of cn. I&], ch VhQ ~icr .9y, lcaj chological abililici HIlowing them, for exampt I W,,,,,, c' to "~"`v" ,~!hcir ~odics and to walk through See, e~v. Squires, 19U.) These ideas anO enhancemeni techniques oftlic sort mtritioncd above were advanced by an infor- ;,rilaivroup of iome 300 arrtly officers known as the Delta Force (not to be confused with the antiterrorino unit hav iq the same name), Several other laik Forces in the army %,tre organized in the 1970s to Cxamine and promote the Itechniques. An influentisi memo pulling much of this together for ft kmy was written in 198*1 by General T~vrman, then rid deputy CFICTor -%(Uff for person- iliculcriant general ft ild (Thurman wont an to become a four-,4.1ar general and -ax an architQc, of the at-tny'3 vicechicf ofiwff. find v ver V w4essful recruiting campaign with the Nlogan of -13c all :nil you ciin be.") He iub3cquenify led .he army's ain- -% -effort _33cafnmiinder of the Trsiriing and 'Doctrine Commund, His memo identiried "accelersited ic~krning. ~Lnfisrrntial 1704CLS, pircvitualliza:ion. psychakinctics and ;WkilrietiGs, remot , hi phv~_,"T_Slreli prc~,cn~ it ~Cvlewln 11tion, etc." as techniques that'shoul~ be considcrecl."lt ;wtsbased in part on a hialf-dotcrt commtrcially aviti;able liechniquc:l that may be characterized iii follows. 3;(JrResdV" acceleirative trarning and teachinK irch. iiquei (SAUTI, combine physical Waxation, mental ,wicentrition. guided imagery. miggcstion, and baro(lUe ,~musicto irnprove classroom perforn-itince, The Jourhal or fhi Societyf(yr,Accrleradve L?arning and Terichitip pu-,~ llt5J~ts eytiluations of appllcalion5 of SALTT to lanjuagc I ~ Wning, typfrig imitruoicin, high-school scictice bourses. ind so forth. Convirntrix desigriates a specific procedure for training i ~isultl concentration on a target. broadly deflned, an~ Inuirnizing hand-eye coordiria(ion. bWanc4 . 11A, and scrisory and visualization skills It is intended jjtrappllc~ilion not only io markimunship but to ',he or trilion of compleN eqvipmen,.. movcment over bong dis IlKeS W1 h the objeCtiMR Of reduCing fAliguc, and in(cl *nce gaihering. Hemi-S~wc,= short for hemispheric, synchronization, ~Iwiilists of pre3criting lones c)f slightly different fre. jutricy to each car to produce a beating sound, An EEG intasured brain response follovo, changes in the beat rre. qw-cy and cNinging sound patterns are thjught to 1,tinlilc slates of awwriess. Rerommendcd applications Ircfor lanjuage learning, wess reduction, reading skills, (Iii6lew solving, creativity, and sicep control. Siriess-managememl It-chniq#44rs ~zrt designed to allevi- iii anxiety and tension and are implenrientcd by Neff-help Wks and groaps and by cliaics. They often emphosiZe litnesi, nutrition, and life stylei, a.5 kvell as 4trategics Nch;o progrciiivc rolaxation and image rehearsal. Pro- um claim an interactive effect acid put forlh a partic- 'jar packuge of technictuci. WL, 1. NO, 7. MARCH ?W) Neurotinguistic pmigramming, (NLP) Is inicybded pri. rnatilv to be a means of exitrilinz influence over oth The skilled practitioner is &uppoicd to be abic to deter- mine what representational system Viou'al, audi. tory. or kirieithelic) tinothcr pcmon is using at the mo. ment-by observing his or her speech, eye molvements, and posture-anti then to rrarne. communications to that I ptirwri in terms of the particular representational system IIn we. A national asiociation is reported to have a mern. ber-.hip of about 500 pe.-Ions, In 1981, an ad hoc iubgrot.4p of the Army Science Boare. forrined in rewonse to General Thurman's memo. I issued a report supportive of further consideration of -~cvc tec: ni in I t hnlquci. The group had been exposed to the I an "experiential workshop formEtt" clurinS a four-day meeting at the Monroe Intitute of Appl~ed Sciencei, d,~vcloper of Herni-Sync. It recommended that formal rnechalniirns be established to undertakc a m*r Wort on '*human technologies." that "icchnologiti shoul'd be sclrtcd into those which require a icientiric base and need Yerifiablo, repealable date for evaluation vtrsus thosc which arc more analytic representing principles of good pracice and are evaluated by consensus, acceptance and overall effectivene,.ts." and. further, that re3earch cflorts be managed jointly by the Army Research Institute and the Medicki) R&D Command, Ili 1984. ARI, whiQh reported then to General Thur. man, hired a program manager, commissioned review pi. perk on Ave lechniclum and requested or the Nationai Research Council that a committee examine the ves. In 1985. ARI initiated rciearch or, several of the techniques I and re'viewed army rcwarc~. in progress ci%ewhere, THE COMMITTEF-'S SPECIFIC FINDINGS Learning During Sleep The committee recomrntinded that the army give slioep learning a -4ccond look," Considering only the sleep- learning literature. there ~;;ccmed little basis for any kind of positive recommendation, This conclusion wmi rein- forced in a detailed briefing by LaVerne Johnson of the Nal/hl Health Retioarch Center. When all possible cnteria are applied to verify that the leamer ii truly aisletp, there appears to be no evidence o( conscious recognition or recall of materWs prenentrd during sleep (for a thorougn review, see Aarons, ~976), In Nct, since the mid-1970!s rcleirch Relivity on sleep lekrr~ng has nearly stopped, at least in this country, The committee, however, was influenced by recent dcYclopments (n basic reiearch on "implicit memory," "stimulus-driven proceising," "learning without aware. ricss," Lind rciattri topics (for reviews, Ste Richardion- Klavthn & Bjork, 1988~ 5~hactcr. 1987: Shimamura, 198(1; and the commissioned paper by Lich, footmoic 2). Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6 Approved For Release 2000/QWPA;L~qlAnR.JDM-00789ROO2200650001-6 Enhancing Human Perforn,"knee pared for the Army ReSearch Institute by John Palmer and from a review of the sarne studies, that it commis- sioned Alcock to make. The committee algo reviewed the -other main body of experimental research, namely. on G anzfeld experiments, in which a homogeneous VISLIal field is used to alter states of' mind in the interest of receiving pm signals. A paper on intuitive Judgment and the evaluation of evidence was prepared for the commit- tee by Griffin (see footnote 2). With particular attention to the three sets of experi- mental studies, but including its other reviews and expe- riences,_Lha committee found no scientific warr the _L_IHB!n~ '0 n mow existence of' para~pqychholo ioar ~phhenomena. ("No %cien- w~ as a~e titic just, I~catlon t h ~MD h s e ag`rMedon with NRC ication was the phrw editors for the committee's report. but -warrant- cap- tures better the intended sense.) Though the committee therefore saw no reason for direct army involvement. it felt that monitoring by the army of the main, current. experimental work would be prudent and suitable. If that monitoring led to the proposal of specific <,,tudies, the recommendations were that army and outside scientists arrive at an agreed-upon research protocol, that the re- search be conducted by proponents and skeptics. Ind that attention begiven to the manipulability and practical application of any effects found to exist. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The committee observed a pervasive -army tendency to accept and implement enhancement techniques on the basis of personal or clinical experience and marketplace popularity instead of on the basis of research evidence that could establish the existence and usefulness of an enhancement effect. In expressing its concern about this practice, the committee issued a list of questions about presumed enhancement techniques that had been pre- pared by scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research: What changes will the technique produce? What evidence supports the claims for the tochnique? What theories stand behind it? Who will be able co use it? What are its implications for army operations? How does it fit with ;Army philosophy? What are the cost-beriefit factors'? (Hegge, Tyner. & Geriser, 1983). Because strong claim,,-, of support from basic research have been made for some of the techniques the commit- tee examined. the committee reviewed in its report what it takes 10 jL]Stify a scientific claim. Specifically. it high- lighted the need to conduct basic research so (hut infer- ences could be drawn in accordance with scientific stan- dards-inferences about novel concepts, causation, alternative explanations of causal relations, and the gen- eralizability of caugal relations. Standards for evaluating field tests of enhancement programs were also revie\ved, including such Cactors as immediate effect,,,~, side effects, assigning merit and mectin?. needs. likelihood ofiransfer, i and contrast with alternatives. The committee acknowledged the differences betA-een rational decision making in science and in practical con- texts. for example. differences in the benefits of correct decisions and the costs of incorrect decisions and in wha( is viewed as a timely decision. It recommended that the army acknowledge such differences c%plicitly in connec. tion with decisions about particular techniques. it set forth an analysis of the unreliability of' testimonies as evidence for enhancement effects. And it stipulated what ice t( it thought would be useful mechanisms for advi dif. ferent parts of the army Lis well as bidding procedures it felt would facilitate informed choices ot programs and vendors. 'rhe committee recommended that the army cont 11 nue to examine vigorOLISly enhancement techniques ihat ap. pear promising. It added the advice that the examination should be systematic and -should include techniques drawn from mainstream research as well as packages pro moted by vendors. A main concern of the committee was to link more closely the army's great interest in enhanc- ing human petformance and Its subStantial resource- conducting tests to evaluate techniques. The committce remarked on the potential ror transfer to the civilian sec- tor, COMMMEE PUBLICATIONS The committee'.-3 final report was published as a book by the National Academy Press in early 1988, entitled Enhancin~, human pr~I'Ormance: Issues, theories, und iechniquey, edited by Druckman and Swets, (A second printing was made a "year later.) With preliminary copies available, a briefing was given army officials and a press confcrence was held in December 1987, with Sweis, 11jork. Hyman, Singer, and Druckman representing the committee. The press conference was attended by some rifty reporters who heard a 15-minute prepared statement and then raised questions for an hour or so, Primary ar. ticlcs appeared in the Vew Y(irk Tintes (Leary, 198% Wushinglon Post (Squires, 1987a, 1987b), Wax~tflglor? Tinres (Price, 1987). and L0.5 Angeje.s Times ( 'Gillette. 1987), Lind articled babed on them appeared in manya(her local and regional newspapers. Other news articles wele published in Science (Holden, 1987), Science Nelis (Greenberg, 1988), Science and Government Report (Greenberg, 1987), A PA 44onitor (Holstetler, 1988), Ps.y. chalt)gy Today (Roberts, 1988), The Chronicle ()f Higher Education (Wheeler, 1987), BeUing*s Science (Ind Tech- 00logy Daily for June 29, 198& and the NRC's Neli,s I Report (Jarmal, 1988). Swets and Druukman "-authored an op-ed article that was printed in 25 daily newspapers. The press conference was videotaped by NBC, CNN, and the United States Information Agency. CNN re- i VOL. 1. NO. 2, MARCH 1W '4proved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6 an, sfcr. C:Iwcen a[ con- correct in what hat the ,onnec- It set nies as ~d what to dif- ~lures it ms and antinue hat ap- iination iniquies ~cs pro- tee was 2nhanc- rceS for rimittee tan, sec- a book entitied es, 11fid second copies a press Swets, ting the )y ~;orne ite.mcrit -iary ar- 1 1987). hingroll 3iiiette. iv other es were P News Report 8), 'High er d rech- s News uthored Approved For Release 2000/087M~(CIALPIMBCD0789ROO2200650001-6 John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjork played small segments for a few days. NBC's camera did not operate properly so Tom Brokaw's evening news used file footage representing some of the Army's more lurid past interests. for example. in walking through walls, and he commented in kind, National Public Radio presented for a few days Lin interview with Robert Bjork an learning technique,~. PUBLIC REACTION The committee's book was reviewed descriptively un- der the heading "Briefly Noted" by Sheldort Zedeck 10988) in Contemporao, P.Yychoiogy. It was reviewed ex- :~nsively by Philip Morrison (1988) in SrieniUlv Ameri- CW?. We appreciated his summary: "Among the most difficult lessons in science is how no't to deceive yourself, This patient and judicious overview offers genuine help" Ip. 109). Irwin Child (1988), in a review for Choice, com- plimented the exposition of general principles of evaiLla- (ion but noted what he called the report's "bias against exploration of apparent anomalies not yet well atiested" (.p. 536). Kendrick Frazier (1988) reviewed the book ex- tensively for the Skeptical Inquirer, with emphasis on paranormal phenomena. Druckman and Swets received several phone calls and letters. many of them complimentary (wanting more in- formation and making suggestions), for example, from ~he Los Angeles Police Department. and many of them expressing concem over negative treatment of particular techniques. In an interchange of several letters, Wilse Webb argued that we had been too generous to one tech- nique, that sleep learning was not worth a "second look. The strongest reactions came as expected from propo- rients of the paranormal and these tended to be in letters addressed to Frank Press. Chairman of the National Re- search Council. Robert Jahn, former Dean of Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science, wrote that a biased committee made factual errors in reviewing his experiments on mental biasing of random number gener- ators, A copy from Jahn to Senator Claiborne Pell was followed by a letter from Pell to Press, The genatur was concerned, among other things, about the possible im- pact of the committee's report on the Nationul Science Foundation. which was said to be reconsidering support of parapsychological research. and he no doubt had in mind his plans to sponsor a bill to create a commission W. stud sychology a d 0t e o manc mhancement techniques. a bill co-sponsored by Senators Gore and Kassebaum and now in committee (e.g,, News- x~eek, June 26, 1989, p. 8). Not satisfied by the com . . ,papers, I te c er ar. ho CNN, cried their case to the undersecretary of th arm y, 'v arm~"o NIN re- responded that it would be improper for th army to i n- "rm' 2000/01~8/0- it set self in this argument and that failing direct resolu tion with the NRC, resolution could be pursued through scientific forums and Journals. The President of the Paraosvcholog Ical Association, Inc.. Richard S. Broughton, also wrole to chairman -Pres-s-.-e-m-p-h-a-si-z-ir-i-g--w-h-at-T~e-and his associa(es iaw as bias in the selection of the committee and an atte~_n-p_My the committee's chair to suppress a positive evaluation of a set of parapsychology studies. Upon what it considered an inadequate response from the NRC, the association published a lengthy report as a -Reply to the National Research Council Study on Parapsychology.- That reply was reviewed in the The Chronicle ot'HiMher Education (Wheeler, 1988) and in 01nitzi magazine (Huyghe, 1989). Similarly, R.A. MCC_o_nne[_1_of_(h`_e University of Pitts- burgh wrote Druckman and Swets and then mail d ten~ively a set of his materials, including his corre e-,~: dence with the NRC and an earlier article by him. Colonel John Alexander (Ret.), one of the briefers at the committee's first meeting, challenged the validity of its report in the periodical New Realities (Alexander, 1989). We should add that the NRC's executive office consis- (ently supported the committee's conclusions (and, we understand, put off a potential donor as a result).5 THE ARMY'S REACTION Army leadership was initially concerned about the ,,early publicity, primarily the negative treatment by NIBC. News. Concern was expressed to and with Iri the army by advocates of specific techniques that had received nega- tive evaluations. Field leaders at first showed limited in- terest, largely through calls by users or opponents of specific techniques. As timc went on, the army received favorable comments from several sources about the com- mittee's report and the interest of field leaders increased. one apparently Influential event was Druckman'5 brief- ing of the army's Human Factors Technical Group in May 19SR; another was the favorable mention of the re- port in the chief of staff's month)), newsleiter. In September 1988, Bjork. Druckman, Johnson, and Swets went to General Thurman's headquarters at Fort Monroe, Virginia, to brief him on the study and to pro- 5. Coloncl Alexandcr, who co-hosted the committet at C.Ieve Buck- Nicr's laboratory test of the emotional responst.,of Posner'5 Icukocvte5, wroic that the committee dcnigrated wch scientific research by men- tioning also the scicntifically unsupportcd ideas of' psychic wnrfare and psychotronic we~lpcns. Meanwhile, R,A. McConricil wrote that the commwtc'5 mention (if Backstcr*~ research was an attempt to taint lcgitima(e rc5carch on parapsychology. We noticed that the Parapsy- 'hological Aswciation, Inc., did no( collaboratc with McConnell in i(~ c0mpinint about the committce's report and that Robert Jahn chose to keep his adverse rcaciion sepuraie from that of the Parapsychological Association, Inc. WH 19W VOL. 1. NO. 2, MARCH 1"0 93 Approved For Release ClA-RQf`96-00789R002200650001-6 approved For Release 2000/08/0&,~cCW RIDP96F00789RO02200650001-6 John A. Swets and Robert A. Bjor :tice, re. or skills and re- ns of re- quisition ing later estricted , in -ncie, )nmental Bjork- & I, gy to en- implica- h the ac- r-forrining 'here are (such as :e motor )tor pro. trategies that are 3physio- tmrt-rate execu- cry) are personal -sted by ,rogram- levelop legative ,e in the :rt's be- arch on it years indation l, Com- cc have discussion of learning during sleep).that seem sensitive to types of learning without awareness ("da(it-driven processing"), there is renewed interest in subliminal I learning (e.g., Jacoby & Whitehouse. in press-. Marcel, 1983). While such results suggest a new look at the sub liminal-learning Issue, a large variety of' subliminal tape,,; esigned to alter attitudes, enhance confidence, reduce l anxieties. and so forth, have had striking SUCUSS in the niarketpiace. Uanipidaling mental, emotional. and arousal stairs A draft review of the literature on techniqLICS 10 change mental states. commissioned by ARI and pre- Pdred by J. Brener and S.R Connally, was reviewed by Druckman and Posner for implications for task perfor- marice. Research developments in various fields, includ- ing health psychology, suggest that altered states of consciousness may afTect a variety of physiological pro- cesses. The converse may be true as well; recent work itiggests that mood states, may be altered by influences on bloodflow that are it consequence of the differing facial jTiuscular patterns corresponding to various emotional expressions (Z4jonc. Murphy, & Ingle-hart, 1989). ARI. motivated by the problem of detecting deception (Hy- man. 1989), has urged the committee to consider also the physical manifestations of mental and emotional staies-, Career development A clas,, of techniques designed to improve perfor-, mance through increased wif-Insight i,, widely used in public and private organizations~ included are assess- ment batteries designed to facilitate leadership, interper- sonal influence skills. tearn building, and decision mak- ing. Specific examples are the, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers & McCaulley. 1985.), the Managerial Grid (Blake & Mouton. 1964), and the Social Styles Pro- file f Merrill & Reid. 198 1). These techniques have con- siderable appeal to trainers as well as to the trainees be- cause of high -(ace validity." but they have been subject %~Rorous research. TO help7ffe`Fi_n_e the que_s~w_;ris, ~e a_~rit the committee COT d Paul Thayer to ~v ical review of the relevant literature, Part-whole methody to enhance group processes At Its first meeting the continuing committee became convinced that certain issues of group performunce de- served study, Should the members of a working group be trained a% a team or individually? If team training facili- rts psy- tales initial performance, is that advantage offset greater disruption when original memberb of the need to be replaced by new members? Should reS viduals in a group be trained in only their task, or variety there be backup training to increase the flexibility earlier I group? Current research rinay not supply definitive ~CH 19*) VOL. 1, NO. 2, MARCH 19W Approved For Release 2000/08/08 by team the iridi- should of the an- swers, to I hese and a number of' related questions, but the issues are important enough to army functioning to be addressed. if only to clarify the questions and to outli me needed research. CONCLUSION Although other arrangements might be workable, we found that the National Research Council provides an ideal setting for it study of this sort. The Council was designed expressly for the purpose. first under the spon sorship of the National Academy of Science and now administered as well by the National Academy of Engi neering and the Institute of Medicine. The NAS was c I chartered by Congress in 1,963. the 114RC was established in 1916. Among the NRC's strengths are that it spans the scientific and professional discipiines~ it benefits from the prestige of its governing academies; it provides in com- petent fashion the services required by committee func- tion: and it follows guidelines to promote thorough and objective reports, including procedures for proposal and report review, Committee members are suggested by broadly based advisers, proposed by a commission's staff and executive director working with the committee's chairperson, nominated by the commission, and ap- pointed by the NRC'.~ chairperson in the interests of Com- petence, relevance, and diversity of viewpoints-They--aLe- d. they serve without financial compensation, - Members of the committee generally regarded their task as challenging and the), demonstrated consistently that it was engaging. They came to the meetings almost without exception, made site visits willingly, submitted draft sections of the repori ricarly on time. and achieved consensus in an advised, efficie'rit, and congenial way. They feel that their training and experience were ade quate to the task and they are pleased to recommend the ( a d se process to psychologis s n ientists in related fields. The continuing committee can reasonably antic, pate that it will contribute more by steering the army toward prom- ising new ways to enhance training and performance and less by saving the Army from investing in ineiffectiYe techniques. It will likely also serve an advisory role for some specific enhancement projects undertaken in the army. A long-term. successful impact,of the committee's work, in both of its phases, is hardly assured. The power of the hurnan-potential movement in the minds of the citizenry. us evidenced by its marketplace popularity, cl-warfs the force of mainstream psychology. Ne", Age techniques are also apparently ma'k-ing substantial in- roads on the more than $30 billion a year that the Amer. ican Society for Training and Development estimates to he ~,pent on't'ormal courses in industry (Wall Strect Jour- : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6 95 Approved For Release 2000/0&08)~ccMt-LRDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6 Enhancing Human Petformance tral, 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 fo r exiNting and new techniques. The lack of theoretical and ernpirical support for many such techniques does not sti- fle their ability to capture the imagination of cof-ISUITIUS. still, (he Condon Report of f968 on unidentified flying 1989) as continu objects was cited recently (.Alexandet in& Iiy atnimmol) interest in Nit snhit-f-i positive to su stitute. he continuing challenge to main- strearn psychology will be to translate its findings and concepts into practical enhancement techniques and to package those techniques so it can "give psychOlOgY avivay--or sell it, for tha( matter. The committee .S cf- forts, we submit, should be onlv an installment. AcknoMedgmerim,-This arlicle is based on a 5tudy conducted hY I the National Research Council for the Army Research Institute and I reportud in Drucknian and Swets ( I'M). The authors thank Danicl Druckman. Edgar M. Johnson, Alvin M, Liberman. Rayrrignd Nickerson. and Jerome E. Singcr for coniments on a dral'i of the REFERENCES Aarkin.s. 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Tyner, C, F. & Genqcr. S. (1983). Evaluating hurnan teChnologics What qucitions Nhould we R%k't Memorandum. Walter Reed Army Instiluic for RcNe3rh. Wit,hington, OC. W. D, t JW). Cal'ietion - Tht, humon eirme"r fn i (inibut, WHNI-iing(on, Henderson. DC- Nztl()n,il Drfenst University Press. Holden. C (1987). Acadcmi, he)ri4 Army be sit that it c4n bt:. Seivrive. 21N. 15111-1502. Hostetler. A.J. i19KF, Januar.0 A(my cyc% novel lcarnun2 methods. A P A kfon- 11,1r, P. 7. Huylihe, P, (1989, April). v%. (he NRC. Onint, pp. 9G-91. 96 Hynitin, R. i 19K9). Thu p,4yt:h(iIk)Vy of deceptiOn. Annual Revlem- (if PT~,Oivha, 4e) Jucoli.y. L.-L.. St Whitchoii,t. K. lin Pre-4-1) An iIIU1i0n ell memory, I-iflar Tccoq- ninvii intliwoccd by imcons,,~.jou4 pci,centrun. Joilrnal lI Exp(-riniental Ply ( Gencrai Jurmsti. D. (Decemlict, 1987,Jantiars IYKH) Therv arc no caqv wavs to make better 'LIdicrs. National Ruscurch Cuunuil Nf--x Report. pp. 2--h. K4(z, 1) "& Kahn, R.L (IMA) The ... ( ial /1-c0h)h,Yv if orentrizationf N~% York. Wilcy. %V.E (1987. E)ecerntiscr 4) Armt,'s Ictirning panel urgc-% offbeat vuilie5. Isr York Time.,. p. B5 I Marcel."A'A. 1199,11), COn4cious and ltncvn~iitius ticroorstion. An approach to ~he 1 rVillium Nlwsgn nhirl"InflIftlai rlnrrirnrr ind Radnor. PA. Chilion Morrison. P. f 19N8. Augiml) Revicw of Fnh,ln, iqA, humeen perfi-,rmotve. ynw~, 104 American. pp. 108-11)9, Stu- 17i. 0- & Magoun, H.W. (1949j, Bnmn~leln reticular fornwti(,ri and Rcl;Va. non of (he EEG EEG nad Chnictil Nou-p,i 1. 415-47~. Myon, I.B_ &- McCitulley, M.A. (1985). .4 Koide it, the deteh,pmrnt and tire q I/Ir M, Tipe Indee-inor, Palo Alto. ("A contullinif Psychologi,il'i Novaw, K.W., Cook. T.M.. & Sara,ion. 1.0. 1 19t(Ir Nlilnar~ retruit training ,%rena for streg,l-cootrift skills. In I). Mcichcritituirn & WE, JarcmkofUu, redi4t thin and peevrn(ifiii New York: Plenum Pelcry. T.J.. &- Waterman, R H (1021L In ')f J-.t' NC4 Y4srk Hurper & Row, Price, J. ( 19~7. I)ecember 4) Panel rejects mental icleraihy, FSP for practi,;tI mjlitur~ use, Was jilt) k, lan Timr~. P. A6. Porter, LAV I.awler. L.E.. & Hackirri J.R. ( 197,51. Rrhavior in or~dn;zrawm, New York: Mu0jaw-H)II. Posner. N1.1. (197!), Nf,chohioloffy of attention In M.S. Gazzaniga &I C. Blakr- ... s- Eds.), Handho,ik New York. Acadcrrii,~ Prcs.N, Richurdsoti. A. 11967). Mental praeti%;c; A review anti d;sL;umion. Research Qvct- tertv. ,R. 95-107. 26.1-273, Richardq,tt-Khorchn. A.. & Rjork, R.A 119911), MUNurev of mairfOrt,. Annual Rri-fl- .fPiYrhof,?y,t. J'9, 4~S-,543 Rohhoiq, T,W., & E,eritl. B.J. (1481) Functo)n.jl studies of the central 7ale. clailamincs. l"w,mirionat Review of Ncwrohwh,~y, 2J, Roherl,%, M. (March 1988). Be all that yoit can he. Ps-s-, h,-laxy Today. pp Rumclhiurt. D.E_ & StcOulland. J.I- iMt,). Paralfel difilribuird pr,icefilltv. Cambridge, MA: Bradford Urook~, MIT ITc-sis Srhitocr. D.L. ( 191171. Implicit memorw History and current Ntutus. Jouin'li W Ltlierimetool ?~y(holoqy, Learninie, Ifenlor). and coxnawn, /J. MI-31K E.H. (19951. 0rjvanj--,ijfiijn,t,1 lidiure- ind leader,hiP. San Francisco Jw scy-Buqs. '),;hmidt. R.A.. Young. D b- Swirmcn. S., & Shaiiiii.i. D.C. (1989). Summitry knowiedg,~ ofreNuIlN for qkill a,quisition- Support for the guidance hy co 41, csj~q J(mrriaf ot'Experamrnial rs.%, holoy) - I~eurnjnj.,, Ueln",IT. (ind (Oclil- iion. 1,5, Y2-359 Shinianiura, A.11. 119861 Prinlinx uffccus in amnesia. Evidence for a dis,%ociRHc mernory function. Q14arler~, PsY, 644, Srnilh. S.M. ( 19881. Enviroomuntal comext-dependcrit mcmurv. In D.M. Thom;, -~oji & G.M. Divies (EdN.). Memory ;n conm.w Conlexi in wemvn~qqr 1~-14). New York: Wiley. Squircs. S. k 1997a, Det;ember 4). Arni~ re,,earch finds po'sSibli: i-nditary tiqe ~x slcrp lciirning: P;,iryip.%ychoIogy*i validity doubted, A23 Squires. 5, J1987b. L'Ircember R). Roofevdback: Evert the Army i6 inleirei!eil, but. . . . W",shington Pov, p. Z I I. Squircs, S. 1 19", April 17). The NniRgon's twilight 7t)nC, Wd.V11lnqroM pwf C3 Ursin. H., Bitadc, F.. & Levine, S. I Eds. ~ (197~), slijdv qI'volnno mrn New Yvr~. Aendrnnic P%,Ns, Wheeler, D.L. (1997. December 9). New study for National Acadeniv of&icncc~ dehlink, many Mcilio,ii fur cnhancing human pct-formance. Chmnif(r Y HIKher Lducalion, P~ A4. Wheeler. D1, (19HR. September 14) P"TarsYchologists Fire back of Nalions. ACadcmi, report th;fl s;,jlicd field unMenlific Rod experimemi Patted Chrorllci`e -f UNArr Educali, -,I, pp, A!, A 10, Yer1kc,:,, R.M., & Dodilon. J.P. t 19M. The relationship of trenglh or stimulivi,0 rRpidit), of habit formulton ./womil of Comparaf1% e Nruroiovtral Psyc~'n- ocy. 18, 4jK-jg2, Zajonc. R B . Murphy.S.T_i- lngJehart. 1A.fl989) lMpljCAj10M~0rlhC VB.S~:Uldr the,,Nr~ tifernotion, Psi (holovical Review. lot 395-4 Its Zedeck. S (1988). Revicst of Fnhari(in~ hinnam pv~lvrmancr, Conrvmpmu~ PsVeh,dowy. ;.,. 727 VOL. 1, NO 2. MARCH F* Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6 Approved For Release 2000/AO108L~QA-RDR86-00789ROO2200650001-6 Enhancing Hurnan Performance That re%earch, employing amnesic as well its normal sub- jects, has Mustrated that certain indirect measures of memorv (for example, perceptual identification, word- fragment completion. procedural skills) can show large effects of prior episodes when conventional recall and recognition measures fail lo sho", any such effects, Viewed in that context, only certain types (if 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 ,riioht 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 (luring sleep, semantic or affective biasing in the postsleep interpretation of verhal items as a consequence of their being presented in biased contexts during. sleep, repetition effew., (enhancing postsleep performance on matcrial studied before the sleep period by repeating the material during the sleep period). and priming effects facilitating postsleep acqui, sition of material by pre.~enting 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 statc-specific, then it might transfer more effectively it) the states of drowsiness and sernisleep that accompany exhaustion and sleep deprivation lhan 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 lechniqucs.) Literature in the Jow-nal of tile Societl of Accelerative Learning was reviewed and committee Member Schneider attended the society's na- tiorial meeting in 1986. The commissioned paper by Slavin provided background infbrmation on the t"cher's contributions to effective instruction and the paper by Harris and Rosenthal considered the potential contribu- tion of the learner'R expectations in the SALTT environ- ment (see fooinote 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 expectcd on the basis of the mainstream Instructional elements (for example. imagery. cooperative learning, tests as motivational devices and learning events) that are i 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 of 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 petformance issues, and three by ex- perts cin or promoters of visual-training techniques, to addition, Landers and Bjork made site visits to the head- quarters of SyberVisioO and to the Vic Braden Tennis Acaderny. SyberVision is a highly successful marketerof 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 by a principle of' "neuromuscular programming." which' is in turn derived from Karl Pribram's holographic theory, of brain function. The subcommittee interviewed FT1 :- I! bram, director of research for SyberVision, and Stephen! DeVore, rounder and president. Wil h respect to mental practice, defined as "the s%* bolic rehearsal of a physical activity in the absence ofanY gross muscular movements" (Richardson, 1967, p. 95j, the committee's recommendations were quite positive, A niela-analvsis of the relevant research literature revealea that menial practice yields a gain in performance on ibe order of halt' a standard deviation when 'compared to ap.., propriate controls. The gain is somewhat greater for itia. tor tasks that incorporate it Substantial cognitive compo. nent. and the advantages of mental practice c, be, enhanced if physical practice and mental practice are in. terspersed. The committee recommended that the armv evaluate mental practice as a training component in op.,; erational military ta,~ks. and that the army pursue basic, research to determine what mixture ofmcrital and ph~s- IT ri (I P) ht P0 [.~j 01, 88 VOL 1, NO 2. VC Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6 Approved For Release 2000108f(a&2cGtA(~RDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6 John A. Swets, and Robert A. Bjork hl al 9. re c- id ~ic te ce nd nd by -f- :X - In A- lis of rs. t- les ed Ch ry 'ri.- en M_ ny 5), A ed he 1p. 10- )0- ical practice might be optirrial (given considerutions of expense., equipment availability. and so forth).' Concerning visual-training programs, the committee concluded that there was no research base tosuggest that such training leads to improved performance. There is mdencc that certain visual abilities can be improved by training the eye muscles, but evidence that attentional skills can be enhanced by visual training is lacking. The committee concluded that there remain too many Wse ends for the relationship between bicifeedback and lskilled performance to be determined, Part of the prob lem is that biofeedhack is often used as part of broader 11herapeutic programs that incorporate other. possibly ef- fecuvc. wchniques. Another problem is that biofeedback ii used to train physiological parameters (heart rate, for example) although clear knowledge of the most desirable ~~leyels of these parameter-~ with respect to a given skill typically does not exist. In cases where thai relationship sknown (e.g., hand warmth and finger dexterity), there A Cis evidence of performance benefit, Altering Mental States The idea that people can achieve an internal state that %rill be optimal for a broad range of per-rormance has been ;Iappealing*Some level of arousal is optimal for peifor mance ol a given omplexil, Duff,, Ill'-': Yerle, & , Dodson. 1908) and, s'pecifically. the optimal level de- .crease% as task complexity increases (Easterbrook. 1'1959). This concept fits the behavior theories of the 1950s, which specified that a source of energy or drive is tequired to keep the organism active and was reinforced I ~by the physiological discovery ol'a diffuse activating sys~. ).tem in the brain (Moruzzi &z Magoun, 1949), However, with nevv knowledge of the variety and specificity of neu- rotransmitter systems (Robbins & Everitt, 198") and with psychological theory focused on cognition, we have be- gun to think of a large number of cortical computations ill Widely distributed neural systems (Rumelhart & McClel- land, 1986). The vie", that cortical computations are mod- itiiated by different transmitter systerns in varying wilys niakes it more difficult to suppose that tiny training tech- nique will provide optimal states for all forms ot'physical and mental activity. An example comes from the finding ihat the optimal conditions of alertness for rapid respond- ~Jlng differ from those for the best memory performance Tomer, 1975). Unfortunately, the committee did no( Find time to ex- plore the evidence for the wide variety of specific training be in 4. Fullowing on thta rccorrimcrid-,ition, an experiment is kjndcrw:tv ~11 T-L Y ilic Rc6lone Arsenal in Aliihurn;i to cv-11wite mental pnictice Hs a com- JhC Rc' )p- mment in the traiiing of complex ~oldcring til' eleciromic eircu6, sic L4 s guidcd the de,,ign of conditions NAt will pcrmit a cornparkon Lander L~iid" Nmental-praoicc. pticebo. atid standard. Irainins groups. NO, .1, MARCH IVIM Rq Approved For p"'~>2600/08/08 or induction methods that might provide a basis for tech- niques for manipulating internal ~)tates. 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 s?ttings (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. car training, and introductory p'sychology). the committee concluded that current attemp'ts 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 hemiqphcre,,, differentially awaits the devel- opment of reliable measures of hemispheric activity in individuals. Iftes, Management The clear thrust of the evidence from various types of research on stress, from animal studies as well us human s i~s, is that tin individual's uncerlainty about impend- ing events and sense of' control over them are the main f~iclors in perceived stress. This conclusion is supported by the extensive review paper on stress and performance_ prepared for the committee by Seymour Levine t see foot- note 2). A case In point is the study of hormonal and behavioral responses of Norwegian paratroop trainees as they made repeated jump) from a tower on a guide wire Wrsin, 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 reductlon,i~~~~~~ during training to prepare soldiers for real combat. A 07Coox, and Saruson ( 1983) showed that ,~y~o v a c o providing marine recruits with more realistic information about what lies in store for them, and about (he skills necessary for coping with the rigors of boot camp, led them to exhibit higher expectations of personal control and efficacy. CIA-RDP96-00789ROO22006-50001-6 Approved For Release 200giQ&OiB-)CiC4AAMM6.00789ROO2200650001-6 Enhancing Human Performance The committee reviewed individual and intrapsychic approaches to stress reduction. including arousal reduc- tion (relaxation training and biofeedback), cognitive re- s ,tructuring and problem solving, and behavioral skills training. Regarding b1ofeedback. on which a conclusion wazi specifically requested of the committee, it was found that although biofeedback can achieve a reduction of muscle tension. it does not reduce stress effectively, Committee members' appreciation of military stress was enhanced by a visit to Fort Denning, Georgia, where they viewed paratroop training (and arranged. and then mercifully aborted. an opportunity for David Goslin to moke a jump), They saw Bradley vehicles maneuvering under fire and then rode in one. They also heard u pre- sentation and viewed a videotape on the extraordina rily demanding and stressful procedures of Ranger training, which centers on several weeks of long daily marches over difficult and hazardous terrains under severe envi- ronmental conditions. Influence Strategies The committee's treatment of strategies of social in- fluence centered on ncurolinguistic programming (NLP). NLP's wide use in the army was described by army rep- reseritadve Robert Klaus in two briefings; a background paper by Pruitt, Crocker, and Hanes was recruited by the committee (footnote 2); and Singer, Davison, Mobley, and Druckmann attended a workshop an NLP techniques and interviewed Richard Bandler, one of the developers of NLP. The conclusion was that little if any evidence exists either to support NLP's assumptions or to indicate that it is effective as a strategy for social influence. NLP has also been used as a means lo model expert performance and the Qommittcc's visit Lo Fort Benning included a review of a test of this aspect of NLP Lis ap- plied to marksmanship. Though the committee could Find only one evaluation of NLP as a model of expert perfor- mance. and found that one wanting, it did conclude that -QnstituLes a worth- the investigation of expert models c while activity for the army, and thQ/continuing committe plans to pursue that topic. Group Cohesion The army is quite committed to developing group co- hesion. Its cur-rent COHORT system of keeping units intact is motivated by the desire to enhance group per- formance by increasing group cohesion. The chair of the committee's resource advisory group, Lieutenant Gen- cral Robert M, Elton, and the commander of the Army Research Institute, Colonel William Darryl Henderson, have written in support of it (Elton, 1984~ Henderson, 1985). A technical report from the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research points out that civilian scholars as well as senior military officers accept that coheiion in- 90 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 hibits breakdown, without regard to the research corn- 1 MUnity's ability to demonstrate relationships ("The New Manning System Field Evaluation," 1986, No. 3, p. 9). 11 and Waterman's lit Search of Excellence (1982) Peters may represent civilian scholars in this regard, and indecd. the research community has been supportive to a degree ie.g., Campbell, 1975, Katz & Kahn, 1966), The committee, however, believed that the arguments in favor ought to be treated as hypotheses rather than conclusions, citing difficulties in separating conse- quences and indicators of cohesion, the gap between im. proved cohesion and better unit performance, the ten, dency to rely on single-factor ex planat ions of group performance, and the possibility of reciprocal effects be. tween cohesion and peHormance. The current evidence I makes it necessary for organizations seeking to benefit from cohesion to proceed largely on faith, the committee 1 referred to some possible negative consequences of co. hesion as reviewed by Porter, Lawler, and Hackman (1975): ineffective handling of deviance, "group think," increased impact of any existing negative norms, and increased intergroup conflict. The committee also dis. cussed issues of implementation that it saw as having received little attention. A background t f paper by Tamir and Kunda (footnote 2) developed implications from tht cultural perspective advanced by Schein (1985). Parapsychology The subcommittee on parapsychology made its prin. cipal site visits to the laboratories of Robert Jahn at Princeton University and-Helmul Schmidt in San Amp. nio to discuss experiments on the psychokinetic control of randum uvent 14euei atot ~,. Expei 1111t:111S oil laillutt: viewing were also discussed at Princeton. Hvmzn and ' Paul Hor. Humphreys were joined on both visits by Dr. witz, a consultant to the committee and a physicist at Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., %vho had organized a 1979 symposium on "Physics and i Parapsychology;' for the American Physical Society that included as speakcrs 1 Helmut Schmidt and Ray Hyman. Also visiting Professor Jahn were Druckman E-awrence, and Paul Holland, (her, a member of the committee. Hyman visited Edward May.' at the Stanford Research Institute to discuss experiments on random event generators and remote viewing. Hyman and Horwitz were briefed by representatives of the U.S. Army Laboratory Command on parapsychology and mil- itary intelligence; Druckmari and Swets. were briiefed on Soviet parapsychology by representatives of the Amy Foreign Science and Technology Center and the Defense Intelligence Agency. In connection with a meeting h din'; San Diego, the entire committee, kindly accompanied b~ local psychology professors George Mandler and William McGill, visited the laboratory of Cleve Backster who sus. VOL. 1, NO. 2, MARCH 199n VO : CIA-RDP96-00789 0 200650001-6 corn- New p. 9). 1982) Jeed, egree nents than )rise n irn ten Iroup ts be- Jence enefit nittee )f CO- kman ink." and dis ,aving rarnir m the Approved For Release 2000/08108,ILICI*~FWM--00789ROO2200650001-6 John A. Swet8 arid Robert A. Biork gests that the electrical activity of it preparation of leu- well, changes, in certain b'ts (from zeros to ones or vice I kocytes taken from the mouth of a human subject re- spondb to the emotional states of the subject, a[ a later time and in a different place, For thi-, vi,-~it, the promise to the committee, not- fulfilte , was an observable demon- ~stration of anomalous events. Visitors to Prof'essor Jahn's laboratorv were shown ~,~ow subjects sit in front of one of three kinds of random event generators and attempt t6affect. the behavior of the 4evice in one of three way~i: In the PK + mode, the sub- I.ect tries to get a higher than chance level of hits: in PK - mode. a lower than chance level: and in baseline mode, a number of hits equal to the chance level. Under volitional jrditions, the subject is free to select among the three !niodes-, under instructed conditions, he or she is not. Horwitz observed that the investigators reported no dif- ftrences in results occasioned by it transition from a (ruc random event generator (an analogue electronic device or iamechamcai device) to a pseudorandom event gencralor (adigital, programmed device) that i.~ actually determin- ~Iistic and nonrandom. They believed that their subjects could will changes in a voltage or voltage threshold of a noise source or changes in the tra.iectories~ of small balls/ Wing down a chute with multiple obstacles and, cqually versa) of predetermined and otherwise completely repro- ducible sequence-, as generated by an at-ray of shift reg- isters At his Mind Science Foundation in Sari Antonio, Dr, Schmidt described an experiment designed to permit a skeptical group of scientists to a[)ply adequate controls to it psychokinesis experiment without destroying the psy- tho I o ~, .111 t_envirg~nment _lor, ~b',,:,ct that is _saidrby rs to be CrItica for obta line s=arche oosltlve esults -HUM-groups -use a piece ot data not yet available (e.g., specified weather data from the Vevv York Times at some agreed upon future date) Lis a pointer into a given table of 'random numbers, which will generate "seed numbers" to a pseudorandom number generator and hence produce a predetermined sequence of ones and zeros, Both groups follow a set proccclure to assign PK - and PK - modes to the seed numbers and thereby instructions for the sub- Ject An agreement made durin'g the site visit to conduct a * : . nt with Dr. Horwitz as participant, which joint experime wuuld be monitored by- the committee, was not followed up by Dr. Schmidt. ---TlTc--cMff-M-tt tee benefited from a review of the iitera- (Lire on remote viewing and random event generators pre- prin- .hn at Anto- ontrol ,mote n and I Hor- at ,zed a i" for ii1liam to right: Davison, B.1ork, Fosner, hyrnar phreys, Thompson, Springer, and Singer. 10 SUP,-I 'H 1990 VOL. 1. 140.2, MARCH 19W 91 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2200650001-6