Basic Research

Our diverse basic research is funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Here the focus is on fundamental scientific discovery and the develop-ment of novel research instruments and methods, with specific research efforts informed by existing knowledge and technology gaps, enduring chal-lenges, and long-term Air Force strategic priorities and requirements.

A small sampling of our basic cognitive modeling portfolio includes: auditory and visual perception, fatigue and vigilance, cognitive response to environ-mental toxins, strategic adaptation to uncertain, non-stationary decision environments, language compre-hension, and new methods and frameworks for model development, evaluation, and selection.

What is Cognitive Modeling?

Cognitive modeling is the use of empirical and ana-lytical techniques as well as mathematical and com-putational systems to advance our understanding of the human mind (in the case of basic research) and the development of innovative cognitive technolo-gies (in the case of applied research). Emphasis is usually on information processing associated with perceiving, learning, forgetting, reasoning, decision making, and problem solving.

Application & Transition

Cognitive models, with their emphasis on rigorous development methodology and mathematical and computational implementation, lend themselves naturally to applications of maturing technologies that transition to the warfighter or transfer to exter-nal industry and academic partners. Examples from our applied cognitive modeling portfolio include:

x� computational partners that serve as teammates or aids

x� design advisors that improve the human-machine interface

x� cognitive enhancements to autonomous system capabilities

x� intelligent tutors that prescribe adaptations for improved education and training.

The relevance of cognitive modeling to our future technologies  is  apparent  in  the  Air  Force’s  Technol-­ogy Horizons (2010) and Global Horizons (2013) re-ports, and we are hard at work on the science and technology base that will create those futures. cognitive.modeling@us.af.mil

Opportunities

AFRL's cognitive modelers are interested in new op-portunities to apply their scientific research and technology development skills. If you are interested in a collaborative or on-site employment opportunity in cognitive modeling, at levels ranging from sum-mer intern, to research assistant, to post-doc, to vis-iting scientist or principal investigator, please send an email to:

cognitive.modeling@us.af.mil Distribution A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited (PA #: 88ABW-2013-2478).

The Warfighter Interface division discovers, devel-ops, and transitions innovative human-machine in-terface solutions together with human performance augmentation, modeling, and advanced human-autonomy interaction to ensure effective warfighter decisions and enhance mission effectiveness.

Across the division, research is conducted on basic mechanisms of visual, auditory and haptic percep-tion, multimodal communication, computational cog-nitive neuroscience, and human-machine interaction and visualization. Researchers are integrating com-putational and mathematical physiological and cog-nitive models to support adaptive automation archi-tectures for human-machine systems to aid and aug-ment human operators. This work utilizes novel tools for assessing cognitive states of operators in con-junction with cutting edge technology for augment-ing user interactions with machine systems. Addi-tional efforts are focused on developing integrative

models of the cogni-tive and physiologi-cal effects of vigi-lance, stress, and teamwork, account-ing for the variable influence of environ-ment on human op-erators of complex systems.

We  face  the  challenge  that  the  U.S.  Air  Force’s  train-­ing and readiness requirements are outpacing the capacity and existing opportunities to train. The mis-sion of the Warfighter Readiness Research division is to study, develop, and transition human perform-ance methods and technologies that provide the Warfighter the necessary knowledge and skill to dominate their operating environment. We envision training that is personalized, adaptive, learner-centric, informed by cognitive and neural sciences, and enabled by competency-based performance measurement and robust cognitive agents.

To achieve this future, a combination of basic and applied cognitive modeling research is underway. Examples include natural language understanding, strategic adaptation to dynamic task and decision environments, fatigue effects on task performance, enabling rapid model development for high-fidelity, large scale task environments, optimization of train-ing schedules, and integration of multiple learning mechanisms in cognitive agents.

Warfighter Interface

Warfighter Readiness

MindModeling@Home Developed by researchers at AFRL, MindModeling is a capability open to the cognitive science community that enables the rapid turn-around of modeling re-sults over very large parameter spaces. Rapid turn-around, often > 500x speedup, is enabled through High Performance Computing centers and volunteer computing resources. Visit the url below to get started.

The Human-Centered Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (ISR) division conducts research to discover, develop, and transition human-centric so-lutions to processing, exploiting, and disseminating intelligence. Cognitive and behavioral modeling is being developed to improve performance of intelli-gence analysts and human-machine systems for in-

formation discovery and exploitation. Cognitive modeling is critical for describing, prescribing, and predicting analyst performance and assess-ing improvements in per-formance enabled by novel machine solutions.

Bioeffects is principally interested in applying cog-nitive model-ing to predict enhancements and detriments to cognitive performance that may result

from environmental stressors such as nanoparticles, toxins, radio frequency and optical radiation, and other forms of directed energy. This division seeks to protect warfighters from environmental stressors and help them exploit the bioeffects of those same stressors. In particular, this division discovers and applies knowledge about the bioeffects of these stressors to enable warfighters to perform effec-tively, efficiently, and safely on the modern battle-field and to prevent mission degradation due to toxic exposure. Current efforts are focused on empirical research to support future development of models to predict robust behavioral performance given differ-ent environmental stressors.

Bioeffects Human Effectiveness Directorate

Human-Centered ISR

We are a diverse group of scientists and engineers conducting research and de-velopment specific to the human ele-ment of warfighting capability. We lead the U.S. Air Force in its human-centered research, and we integrate biological and cognitive technologies to optimize and  protect  our  warfighters’  capabilties  to  Fly,  Fight,  and Win in Air, Space, and Cyberspace. The director-ate is composed of 4 divisions: Warfighter Readi-ness, Warfighter Interface, Bioeffects, and Human-Centered Information Surveillance and Reconaissance.

http://MindModeling.org