Army research needs for automated neuropsychological tests: monitoring soldier health and performance status.
Information on the mental status of soldiers operating at the limits of human tolerance will be vital to their management in future deployments; it may also allow earlier intervention for conditions such as undiagnosed Gulf War illnesses and Parkinson's Disease. The Army needs a parsimonious set of neuropsychological tests that reliably identify subtle changes for: (1) early detection of individual health and military performance impairments and (2) management of occupational and deployment health risks. Testing must characterize cognitive lapses in healthy individuals faced with relevant operational stressors (i.e., anxiety, information overload, thermal strain, hypoxia, fatigue, head impact, chemical or radiation exposures, metabolic challenges). This effort must also explore the neuropsychological methods in militarily relevant conditions to extend our understanding of relevant functional domains and how well they correspond to modes of testing. The ultimate objective is unobtrusive real-time mental status monitoring.
Friedl
Karl E
KE
U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA 01760-5007, United States. karl.friedl@us.army.mil
Grate
Stephen J
SJ
Proctor
Susan P
SP
Ness
James W
JW
Lukey
Brian J
BJ
Kane
Robert L
RL
D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D018923:Persian Gulf Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012106:Research; D012984:Software; D014481:United States; D014857:Warfare