ABSTRACT
The remediation of the negative consequences of mental stress on brain processes and the quality of performance may yield great benefit to the military as many of these individuals may hold invaluable skills in terms of cognitive decision-making, physical stamina and endurance and specialized areas of expert knowledge. The psychobiology of the stress response has two main components, involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the autonomic nervous system. The neural signature for cognitive-motor expertise is characterized by a fundamental distinction between the refined organization of brain processes in the expert and the noisy cortical dynamics associated with the novice. In addition to individual strategies in emotion regulation, mission success typically requires cooperative effort as the imposed task demands, particularly during combat operations, will typically exceed the information processing and response capacity of any one individual. Individuals with strong abilities to overcome novel, stressful stimuli are often able to maintain performance levels despite frequent and dramatic changes in the environment.
