Enhancing Human Cognitive Capital by Harnessing the Brain’s Inherent Neuroplasticity

This chapter addresses the capability to enhance human cognitive performance (i.e., cognitive capital) through training, with the down-range goal of improving functionality in contexts of great complexity, including military/political operations, corporate directions, and educational preparation. It highlights a multidimensional framework to measure gains in cognitive capital on brain, cognitive, psychological, life-functionality, and emotional-cognition factors. To illustrate the potential to harness neuroplasticity, the chapter summarizes evidence showing improved agility and focus from a specific cognitive training that targets strategic thinking (e.g., filter/focus, big picture thinking, innovation). This chapter also adds to the notion of increasing peak performance utilizing moderate stress levels to boost responses. Optimizing performance in continually changing and stressful environments relies on strengthening human cognitive capital in the healthy brain across the life span—similar to that achieved for physical fitness.

Exoskeletons

The past few decades have witnessed a rapid explosion in research surrounding robotic exoskeletons due to their promising applications in medicine and human performance augmentation. Several advances in technology have led to the development of more energy efficient and viable prototypes of these devices. However, despite this rapid advancement in exoskeleton technology, most of the developed devices are limited to laboratory testing and a very few of them are commercially available for human use. This chapter discusses the advances in various constituting technologies including actuation, sensing, materials, and controls that made exoskeleton research feasible. Also presented are case studies on two state-of-the-art robotic exoskeletons, Harmony and Maestro, developed for rehabilitation of the upper body. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the ongoing challenges in exoskeleton design and ethical, social, and legal considerations related to the use of these devices and the future of exoskeletons.

Mitigating Stress Response to Optimize Human Performance

Optimizing human performance is the expression of a desired phenotype to meet the challenges of a particular task. Desired phenotypes are expressed in response to canalizing experiences such as in acclimatization to environments. Here one’s biobehavioral system adapts to the challenges of the environment to reduce physiologic strain on the system. These adaptations are within the biobehavioral system’s repertoire of expressible phenotypes and are reversible. Desired phenotypes can be maintained, facilitated, or induced by canalizing experiences. In the desire to optimize performance, the canalizing experiences are often designed to induce or prolong phenotypic expression to meet the demands of a constructed task. In these cases, the canalizing experiences, whether pharmacological or other physiologically invasive, often lead to irreversible negative health consequences. This chapter discusses the effects of canalizing experiences in terms of the strains on the biobehavioral system. The chapter advances a concept of strong environment as a means to facilitate and maintain phenotypes, which are within the phenotypic expressible repertoire. The argument is made that leveraging the bio-behavioral system’s wild type rather than domesticating the system to express a supernormal phenotype yields greater agility and overall health in a population to overcome challenges.

Evolution of Physiological Status Monitoring for Ambulatory Military Applications

This chapter describes real-time physiological status monitoring, which provides key medical situational awareness of at-risk individuals. The information obtained enables military leaders to make better decisions with regard to mission management. These monitoring systems do not replace medical or leadership decision-making, but rather they provide objective information on which leadership can base their decisions to mitigate the risk of injuries and enhance performance. Commercial systems and research tools must be modified to meet the requirements of operational military personnel. These monitoring systems integrate wearable sensors, smart algorithms, computer and mobile user interfaces, and communications equipment to allow data-driven decisions to be made by appropriate personnel. This often requires data to be aggregated and sent from the wearer of the system to a decision-maker some distance away. This chapter describes the research and development efforts to meet the needs of military operational units.

The Ethics of Human Enhancement

This chapter raises some ethical considerations and highlights the debate regarding the burgeoning field of human enhancement (HE) and performance optimization. The topic of human enhancement is complex because it gets to the heart of what we take to be the central concerns of ethics, involving concepts such as human nature, identity, fairness, dignity, virtue, and duties to our offspring and fellow beings. This chapter proposes a framework for discussing the ethics of human enhancement. It serves both as a structure for understanding current issues and debates and as a guide for stakeholders to use in making decisions about the ethics of particular HE interventions. In doing so, the ethical framework described borrows from Just War Theory (JWT), an adjacent field of applied ethics. Just Enhancement Theory (JET) provides key considerations that are necessary to argue that a particular HE intervention or class of interventions is morally permissible. Such a framework could help stakeholders navigate the complexities of the moral terrain as they make important decisions and contributions in this increasingly important area.

Examining the Influence of Adaptive Instructional Techniques on Human Performance for Tasks Conducted in Extremely Stressful Work Environments

This chapter examines the potential benefits of computer-based adaptive instruction to human performance during the training of tasks usually conducted in extremely stressful work environments (e.g., law enforcement, firefighting, emergency medicine, or combat) that often include time, performance, and safety stressors. Adaptive instruction is training in which a computer-based intelligent tutoring system tailors its interaction with the learner to optimize learning and adapts the training environment (e.g., simulation) to maintain challenge level and flow. The design goal of adaptive instruction for tasks in extreme environments is to influence knowledge and skill acquisition to the point where the learner can successfully perform the expected tasks during training and then successfully transfer those skills to the work environment and perform regardless of the conditions. This chapter includes recommendations for representing and adapting work environment stressors during adaptive instruction to optimize learning and transfer of skills and is written for training developers.

Optimizing Cognitive PerformanceGenetic and Epigenetic Techniques

Optimizing human cognitive performance by genetic and epigenetic means requires consideration of the goal and context of the desired cognitive performance. This chapter considers two examples to illustrate how optimization will depend on deciding what qualities are desired, defining such traits or phenotypes, and then considering the environment in which genes are expressed. The warrior/worrier gene provides a way to explore the alteration of a single gene with simple dominance. The most commonly desired genetic cognitive trait, intelligence, is considered as an example of a multigenic trait. The genetic techniques for optimization of human cognition are described using plasmid introduction, direct gene editing, and genetic alteration of the microbiome. The approval of three medical genetic therapies in 2017 indicates a high probability that genetic enhancement will become possible in less than 20 years.

Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Major Depressive Disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects more than 20 million people in the United States. Depression is comorbid with other psychiatric disorders and can increase risks of drug and alcohol abuse and suicide. Available antidepressants have limited efficacy and new therapeutic targets are needed. MDD and antidepressant responses are mediated via neurotransmitter signaling mechanisms and inflammatory responses involving an integrated network of limbic brain regions that include hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and nucleus accumbens. Although this limbic circuit is broadly described, researchers do not understand how the properties of neurons within the circuit are altered in depression. The authors present the regulation of the p11 signaling module in this circuit, describe the diagnostic aspects of p11 function, and lay out a cellular and molecular framework for the understanding of MDD and the development of novel antidepressant therapies.

Optimizing Human Performance

In an increasingly complex and fast-paced world, organizations must develop strategies to enhance or optimize worker performance in order to achieve their goals. This is especially true, for example, in the military, where highly skilled and competent personnel are needed, and where, because of lengthy training requirements and financial constraints, getting the most out of its existing soldiers and civilian employees is critical to mission success. Therefore, in many ways the military serves as the best model to understand how humans, when required to go well beyond common capabilities, can optimally function in extreme circumstances. This chapter describes the origins of an Army study to investigate human performance optimization (HPO), the results of that initial study, and introduces the topics included in the current volume that speak to scientifically grounded strategies that may enable the Army and other organizations to optimize the cognitive, physical, and social aspects of employee performance. The topics included in this book are relevant to organizations and individuals that seek to remain competitive by achieving HPO.

Leading Teams to Optimize Performance

Teams are a critical aspect of organizational life and understanding the taxonomy and processes extant in team life is a critical first step in learning how to optimize team and individual performance. This chapter examines key components of both team structure and team processes that form the fundamental underpinnings of team performance. Once leaders understand these constructs and the role they play in team performance, leaders can devise interventions to build better teams. The best teams produce the best team performances and contribute to enhancing the skill development of each individual team member. The relationship between the team and its members is symbiotic. Given this, a leader has the potential to impact the development of teams and individual team members simultaneously.