Visual Instincts
from nyt.com
The New York Times today published an article on human instinct and, in particular, gut feeling soldiers often get in battle when faced with a potential or perceived threat. The article deals specifically with improvised explosive devices (I.E.D.’s) in Iraq and Afghanistan and what causes certain soldiers’ hunches to be quicker and more accurate than others.
Eye-tracking technology, it appears, was instrumental in the research, and the results were quite interesting.
Researchers at Princeton University tested soldiers’ on-screen observations through eye-tracking technology in hopes of identifying gut feelings that arise even before a soldier becomes conscious of what the brain has initially registered.
In the research, military personnel were asked to watch a screen divided into four sections, each displaying a different photo. Subjects were then asked to pick out figures, people, or cars that appeared as each set of images flashed onscreen. Pictures flashed by four at a time at first and then participants were told to focus on only two of the four images – those on the top, on the bottom, right, or left. With an eye-tracking device used by the subject, researchers were able to confirm soldiers’ points of gaze and focus throughout the exercise. The soldiers were able to narrow their gaze to just two photographs, still identifying subtle changes in each. But with accompanying brain scans, the resulting data showed that subjects’ brains were registering the appearance of people and cars in all four images, even if their eyes were only focused on two of them. Through this exercise, researchers concluded that “the brain primes the whole visual system to be strongly sensitive to categories of visual input,” meaning that subjects were still aware of objects showing up within their periphery, even if they were not focusing their attention on the images themselves.
Some subjects were better than others, registering the presence of figures faster and with more accuracy. Needless to say, these subjects were identified as having the ability to notice subtle differences in landscape – a definitive advantage when it comes to, say, riding around as a scout in a Humvee through the streets of Baghdad and seeking out I.E.D.’s in the road.
Eye-tracking technology has become a mainstay in military testing, and, in collaboration with brain scans, can be very effective when studying how soldiers react from moment to moment, making what could very well be life or death decisions.
Through eye-tracking technology and brain scans, it’s apparent that, even with much effort going into the development high-tech military gear, the human brain and visual system, in the end, prove the most sensitive detection system, responsible for foiling may I.E.D. attacks while in battle or on patrol. Research like this illustrates just another way in which eye-tracking technology is being used for safety, providing enlightening and informational research within the military industrial complex.
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