Symposium Speakers
Laurel Allender, ARL/HRED
The Army Research Laboratory is undertaking an ambitious effort to
translate the wealth of non-medical, human-system integration
(HSI)-supporting neuroscience into the Army. The HSI relationship
includes interactions and interfaces among humans and such entities as
machines, communications systems, network entities, knowledge bases, and
advanced decision systems. There currently is a small but critical core
of in-house and guided research in areas that contribute to the
multi-disciplinary nature of neuroscience, but a more comprehensive
program is being developed to successfully exploit the field for
exploitation of research in support of the Soldier. A key program
direction particularly suited for HSI is neuroergonomics, the study of
the brain's perceptual processes, information paths, and activity
centers under operational conditions, notably under conditions of
stress.
F. Gregory Ashby, University of California, Santa Barbara - Download Abstract
F. Gregory Ashby is The Laboratory for Computational Cognitive Neuroscience director at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The research conducted in the lab combines cognitive neuroscience, computational modeling, and empirical data collection to study human categorization, attention, learning, memory, decision-making, and emotion. The goals are to understand the perceptual, cognitive, and neural processes that mediate these phenomena, and to build and test neurobiologically plausible computational models. The lab conducts behavioral studies of healthy adults and of certain neuropsychological groups (e.g., Parkinson's disease patients), as well as neuroimaging (i.e., fMRI) studies.
Suzanna Becker,
McMaster University
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Suzanna Becker conducts computational and empirical studies of the neural basis of learning and memory. Her lab uses neural network models, fMRI and behavioural measures to study perceptual and cognitive processes including cortical and hippocampal memory systems, the role of hippocampal neurogenesis in learning and memory, spatial memory and navigation, semantic memory organization, frontal control of memory, dopaminergic role in learning and motivated behaviour, plasticity in cortical systems, and cortical reorganization after perhipheral damage.
Edward Coyle, The University of Texas at Austin - Download Abstract
Dr. Coyle is an exercise physiologist who directs the Human Performance Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. His research has focused upon the metabolic and cardiovascular factors that regulate and limit exercise performance. His research contributions to this area include: a) elucidation of the biological factors that determine world class performance; b) the roles of dehydration and hyperthermia in the development, of exhaustion; c) the effects of carbohydrate supplementation on performance; d) the need for dietary fat to restore intramuscular triglyceride e) the effects of exercise and training on the regulation of, fat and carbohydrate metabolism ; and f) cardiovascular drift during prolonged exercise.
J. Mark Davis,
University of South Carolina - Download Abstract
Dr. Davis' areas of interest include applied physiology, sports nutrition, effects of nutrition and exercise on mental and physical performance during intense exercise and training in athletes and military personnel, physiological mechanisms of central nervous system and muscular fatigue, Exercise Immunology, and effects of nutrition and exercise on immune function and susceptibility to infection and cancer.
Ian Dobbins,
Washington University
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Our research examines human memory with a particular emphasis on how subjects use strategic
and non-strategic decision operations during the attempted retrieval of memories. We are particularly
interested in the functional roles of different prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions during remembering
when it succeeds and when it fails. Using functional brain imaging (fMRI), behavioral studies,
and simple statistical decision models, we hope to gain insight into the controlled decision operations and simple
heuristics that people use when making memory judgments.
David Eagleman,
Baylor College of Medicine
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The long range goal of our research is to understand how the brain perceives time. In one line of research, we are developing a rapid and objective method to assess fitness for duty by studying how sleep deprivation maps onto visual measures of time perception. The end goal is to deliver a portable device that determines when a subject is excessively fatigued and requires rest.
Michael Frank,
University of Arizona
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Our research combines computational modeling and experimental work to
understand the neural mechanisms underlying reinforcement learning,
decision making and working memory. We develop biologically-based
neural network models that simulate systems-level interactions between
multiple brain areas (primarily basal ganglia and frontal cortex),
including modulation by dopamine and other neuromodulators. We test
theoretical predictions of the models using various
neuropsychological, pharmacological, genetic, and neuroimaging
techniques.
Wayne Gray,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Download Abstract
Wayne Gray seeks to understand how goal-directed cognition is shaped by the accommodation of basic cognitive, perceptual, and motor operations to the cost-benefit structure of the designed task environment. These basic elements of integrated behavior, interactive routines, occur over a time span of 1/3 to 3 seconds and are typically beneath the level of our conscious awareness and deliberate control. Such non-deliberate forces that dynamically react to our task environment without our conscious awareness shape a large part of our mental life. There is a basic and applied component to this research agenda. The Cognitive Science focuses on the control of interactive behavior, resource allocation, dynamic decision-making, memory, attention, and motor movement. The Cognitive Engineering side can be characterized by the terms visual-analytics, human-computer interaction (HCI), cognitive workload, and human error. The two types of research feed into each other and are supported by a core of common techniques and methods including computational cognitive modeling, cognitive task analysis, and detailed collection and analysis of behaviors that take less than 1000 milliseconds to occur (e.g., keystrokes, mouse movements, and eye gaze).
Peter Hancock,
University of Central Florida
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Peter Hancock is Provost Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology, the Institute for Simulation and Training, and at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Central Florida. In his previous appointment, he founded and was the Director of the Human Factors Research Laboratory at the University of Minnesota. He continues to hold an appointment as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at Minnesota. He is also an Adjunct Senior Research Scientist at the Transportation Institute of the University of Michigan and an affiliated Scientist of the Humans and Automation Laboratory at MIT.
His current experimental work concerns the evaluation of behavioral response to high-stress conditions. His theoretical works concerns human relations with technology and the possible futures of this symbiosis. He is a Fellow of and past President of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Daniel Johnston, The University of Texas at Austin - Download Abstract
Research in the Johnston laboratory is primarily directed towards understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. We have focused our attention on neurons and synapses from the limbic system, mostly the hippocampus, subiculum, and entorhinal cortex. These areas are known to play important roles in learning and memory. Our research uses quantitative electrophysiological, molecular, optical imaging, and computer modeling techniques.
Thomas H. Killion,
ASAALT - Download Abstract
Dr. Killion received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oregon. In March 2004, he was designated as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology/Chief Scientist. He is responsible for developing a Science and Technology (S&T) strategy responsive to Army needs from the near-term (within the next five years) stretching out through the far-term (twenty years into the future). He is also the principal scientific advisor to both the Secretary of the Army and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)). Prior to this assignment, he served as the Director for Personnel Technologies in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, where he was responsible for policy, guidance, oversight and advocacy of the Army’s MANpower and PeRsonnel INTegration (MANPRINT) and Soldier Oriented Research and Development in Personnel and Training (SORD-PT) programs.
Steve Kornguth,
The University of Texas at Austin
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As Director of the Center for Strategic and Innovative Technologies at
the University of Texas at Austin, Steve Kornguth has established a team of researchers from UT Austin, Baylor College of Medicine, The U.S. Military Academy, Army Research Laboratory/HRED, and the Ironhorse
Brigade (1 BCT) First Brigade Combat Team of the First Cavalry Division, to investigate the physical and cognitive correlates of high operation tempo activity. Specifically, the research thrusts include identifying the neurophysiological markers of attentiveness, monitoring brain activity during periods of high and low vigilance, and implementing novel protocols to improve performance in high tempo environments.
Anne B. Loucks,
Ohio University - Download Abstract
Anne Loucks conducts randomized, prospective, controlled experiments investigating the influences of diet and exercise on the endocrine regulation of fuel metabolism, reproductive function and bone turnover in men and women. The aim of these experiments is to improve our understanding of the disruption of reproductive function and the impairment of bone health that commonly occur in athletes and other physically active individuals. It is hoped that this new knowledge will be useful for refining nutritional guidelines to better protect the health of those who strive to improve their performance in physically demanding activities.
Bradley Love,
The University of Texas at Austin
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Bradley Love is an Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Ausin. His research focuses on developing and empirically evaluating computational models of human cognition. Recently, he has become interested in behavior in dynamic environments, as well as developing countermeasures to information overload and other stressors.
Todd Maddox, The University of Texas at Austin - Download Abstract
Dr. Maddox's laboratory conducts research in the areas of cognitive neuroscience, categorization, identification, decision-making, attention, and mathematical modeling. Our lab is interested in studying the complex interplay between low-level perceptual processes, and high-level decisional processes, and in understanding the neuro-biological bases of these processes across these different but related tasks.
Michael Matthews,
U.S. Military Academy
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High optempo performance often requires soldiers to monitor complex command and control systems for extended periods of time under conditions of fatigue and stress. This project compares the efficacy of different types of stimuli in maintaining vigilance under these conditions.
Nita Lewis Miller, Naval Postgraduate School - Download Abstract
Nita Lewis Miller, Ph.D. is the co-director of the Humans Systems
Integration Program and serves on the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate
School in Monterey, California. Her current research interests include
fatigue and sleep, cognitive workload, team performance and
decision-making. Prof. Miller has conducted research for the U.S. Army,
U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Navy and has served as a consultant to the
Israeli Air Force. Prof. Miller received her Ph.D. in Behavioral
Sciences from the University of Texas School of Public Health.
Kelvin S. Oie,
U.S. Army Research Lab/HRED
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Kelvin S. Oie is a Research Kinesiologist with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL). Dr. Oie holds a Ph.D in Neuroscience and Cognitive Sciences from the University of Maryland, where he examined human multisensory integration. Currently, he is the implementation plan manager for the ARL Strategic Technology Initiative in Applied Neuroscience, the aim of which is to develop an organization-wide strategy for the development of capabilities, expertise, and technologies applying neuroscientific approaches to critical Army operational needs. His research examines human performance in complex, dynamic environments with an empahsis on human visual scanning behavior using indirect vision systems, as well as enhanced assessment and measurement capabilities in operational environments.
LTC Boris Robinson, The University of Texas at Austin, Army ROTC
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An officer who has served in various Infantry, Intelligence and Special Operations assignments at Ft Ord, CA, Korea, Fort Bragg, NC and Hawaii. His operational deployments include Panama, Honduras and Kosovo. His combat tours include serving as an enlisted soldier during Operation URGENT FURY in Grenada, Operation ENDURING FREEDOM-AFGHANISTAN and Director of Intelligence in Operation ENDURING FREEDOM-PHILIPPINES. His current focus is on teaching, coaching and mentoring the next generation of Army leaders.
Robert H. Scales, Jr., Major General (Ret) U.S. Army - Download Abstract
Retired Major General (Dr.) Robert Scales is one of America’s best known and most respected authorities on land warfare. He is currently President of Colgen, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in issues relating to landpower, wargaming and strategic leadership. He has written and lectured on warfare to academic, government, military, and business groups in the United States, Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and South America. Concepts and ideas contained in his writings and studies have significantly influenced the course of contemporary modernization and reform within the military. He has written two books on the theory of warfare: Future Warfare, a strategic anthology on America’s wars to come and Yellow Smoke: the Future of Land Warfare for America’s Military.
Daniel Schacter,
Harvard University - Download Abstract
Daniel Schacter received his PhD in experimental psychology from the
University of Toronto in 1981. He served as a faculty member at Toronto
and the University of Arizona before moving to Harvard University in 1991,
where he is currently William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology. His
work examines distinctions among forms of memory, mechanisms of memory
distortion. and simulation of future events, using a combination of
cognitive, neruopsychological, and neuroimaging techniques.
David Schnyer,
The University of Texas at Austin
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Research in my lab is focused on the Cognitive Neuroscience of learning and memory. We examining the neural structures and computational algorithms that contribute to decision learning, associative memory, and metamemory. More recently we have begun to examine the effect of mental fatigue on learning and decision making utilizing fMRI and EEG measurements.
Lawrence Shattuck, Colonel (Ret) U.S. Army,
Naval Postgraduate School
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Colonel (retired) Lawrence G. Shattuck, Ph.D. is the co-director of the
Humans Systems Integration Program and serves on the faculty of the
Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He was the
Engineering Psychology Program Manager and the Engineering Psychology
Laboratory Director at the United States Military Academy from 1995 -
2005. He has been an active researcher in the domain of military
command and control for more than fifteen years. He holds a Ph.D.
from the Ohio State University in Cognitive Engineering and is a 1999
graduate of the US Army War College.
Joel Warm, The University of Cincinatti - Download Abstract
Dr. Warm's research areas include sustained attention (vigilance) in terms of tests of theoretical models; studies of the psychophyscial, psychophysiological, and training determinants of performance efficiency and the perceived mental workload of vigilance tasks; pattern discrimination, particularly the perception of subjective contours; psychoacoustics with emphasis on auditory adaptation and intersensory processes.
Edward J. Zambraski,
US Army Institute of Environmental Medicine
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Dr. Zambraski’s research interests pertain to the neural and endocrine control of renal and cardiovascular function. He has extensive research experience using both animal and human models. A large amount of his work has involved studying the changes in renal function in hypertension and cirrhosis, and also evaluating the effects of exercise on kidney function.
The research areas within his Division include: Performance Physiology, Injury Epidemiology, Biomechanics and Cognitive Performance. A large focus of the work being done in his Division involves the examination of various stressors on soldier performance and injury potential.