Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Systems ─ Work and Everyday Life

"1 1 Introduction What do most people know about their brains? Do they know as much as they know about their favorite sports teams or their favorite celebrities? Can they describe the operations of their brains with the precision that they list the ingredients and steps in a favorite recipe or explain the nuances of playing a popular electronic game? Do they track their brains with the regularity that they follow the weather, the price of gas, or how much money they have in their wallets? Yet, all that we experience, all that we know, and all that we do is a direct, inseparable product of our brains. For most of us, our brains serve as the conduit through which we experience life, but nothing more. We may have thoughtfully devised programs for exercisingour bodies, and on any given day, we may know our weight within a couple of pounds, but we pay scant attention to the state of our brains, how we may be affecting them, how we may be affecting the brains of others, and how our own brains are being affected during the course of everyday life. In the following chapters, our primary objective is to summarize current brain science, but most importantly, highlight and explain the practical, everyday application of brain science. Today, there may be no field that produces a larger volume of scientific papers, books, and other publications than brain science, or neuroscience. However, with little exception, these publications are esoteric and beyond the reach of those without the requisite academic training (i.e., generally, an advanced degree in neuroscience or a similar field)"--

Chris Forsythe is a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories, in Albuquerque, NM. He has a PhD in Experimental Psychology and MS in Biopsychology from the University of Memphis. His primary expertise lies in the application of technology to improve human performance. He has worked in diverse areas that include: human-machine transactions, high consequence systems, cyber, automotive systems, training and neurotechnology. His research interests encompass individual differences in the neurophysiology of human performance, advanced training technologies development, and human-machine systems integration. He regularly conducts seminars on the application of brain science to everyday life for audiences that extend from professional conference attendees to elementary school age children, and works extensively with youth to promote their interest in science and technology.

Huafei (Harry) Liao is a Senior Technical Staff Member in the Risk and Reliability Analysis Department of Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, USA. He has many years of experience with human performance modeling in the nuclear industry and his work currently focuses on human factors and human reliability in complex systems and high-risk environments. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Control Theories and Control Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, and a Ph.D. in Human Factors and Ergonomics from Purdue University.

Michael C.S. Trumbo is a doctoral candidate in the Cognition, Brain, and Behavior program within the University of New Mexico Psychology Department, where he is further affiliated with the Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center. Additionally, Michael conducts research on human performance at Sandia National Laboratories and through The Mind Research Network and Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute. Research interests center on facilitation of human performance in both clinical and healthy populations in a variety of professional and educational realms, with a particular emphasis on the use of electrical brain stimulation in order to achieve such.

Rogelio E. Cardona-Rivera is a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at North Carolina State University and is advised by Dr. R. Michael Young in the Liquid Narrative Research Group. Rogelio’s thesis work is at the intersection of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, narratology and game design and focuses on creating a cognitive model of the player’s understanding of an unfolding story in an interactive narrative through the use of narrative affordances. Rogelio completed a M.Sc. in Computer Science at North Carolina State University, and a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. He has held internship positions at Sandia National Laboratories, Apple, The MIT/Lincoln Laboratory and Goldman Sachs. Rogelio is a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow and a GEM Fellow.