ABSTRACT
Recent analyses by the Ofce of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have pointed to three key aspects of the security environment that will drive the development of operational capabilities and concepts needed to ensure success on the battleeld now and into the future: a wider variety of adversaries, a more complex and distributed battle space, and increased technology diffusion and access (Ofce of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 2004). Successful future human-system materiel development will depend on an approach that is able to account for the complex interactions of these critical aspects of the environment, as well as the numerous other environmental, task, and personnel factors that impact performance. For example, consider the case of a military commander in charge of a platoon or a transportation ofcer in charge of a security team at an airport. What factors will affect their performance? Some factors will be external to them and will be out of their control, such as the size of the enemy force, the time of day, or the effectiveness of their
The Information-Intensive Security Environment ................................................... 35 The Capabilities of the Information Age ................................................................. 35 Information Intensity and Consequences for Human Performance .........................36 Systems Design and Cognitive Performance ........................................................... 38 Neurocognitive Approaches to System Design ........................................................ 39 Assessment in Operational Environments ............................................................... 39 Differences in Operator Capabilities ........................................................................ 42 Training, Expertise, and Exposure ........................................................................... 43 Future Applications and Considerations .................................................................. 43 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................... 45 Disclaimer ................................................................................................................ 45 References ................................................................................................................ 45
security systems. Other factors will be internal, such as their ability to communicate and lead their personnel, their personalities, and their fatigue levels. An individual’s cognitive functioning, or how they think about the situation and the information presented to them and how they translate that thinking into effective behaviors, will be critical to their performance. However, as will be discussed, ensuring adequate levels and sustainment of cognitive performance needed for mission success is nontrivial and will depend on the development and integration of advanced technologies and understandings of human neurocognitive behavior that lead to the effective design of socio-technical systems (i.e., complex systems accounting for both people and technology).
