The warrior in the machine: neuroscience goes to war

Tracey, Irene; Flower, Rod

doi:10.1038/nrn3835

Cited by 35 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…At the same time, some of these advances will engender debate regarding their potential for misuse (Tracey and Flower, 2014). For example, strategies to modulate interference to update memories may be used to modify memories for therapeutic impact or for detrimental effects (Redondo et al, 2014;de Lavilleon et al, 2015).…”

Section: Modeling Ptsd Phenotypes In Connectivity Of Human Dg-ca3 Neumentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis, Fear Generalization, and Stress

Besnard

Sahay

2015

Neuropsychopharmacol

192

159

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The generalization of fear is an adaptive, behavioral, and physiological response to the likelihood of threat in the environment. In contrast, the overgeneralization of fear, a cardinal feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), manifests as inappropriate, uncontrollable expression of fear in neutral and safe environments. Overgeneralization of fear stems from impaired discrimination of safe from aversive environments or discernment of unlikely threats from those that are highly probable. In addition, the time-dependent erosion of episodic details of traumatic memories might contribute to their generalization. Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the overgeneralization of fear will guide development of novel therapeutic strategies to combat PTSD. Here, we conceptualize generalization of fear in terms of resolution of interference between similar memories. We propose a role for a fundamental encoding mechanism, pattern separation, in the dentate gyrus (DG)-CA3 circuit in resolving interference between ambiguous or uncertain threats and in preserving episodic content of remote aversive memories in hippocampal-cortical networks. We invoke cellular-, circuit-, and systems-based mechanisms by which adult-born dentate granule cells (DGCs) modulate pattern separation to influence resolution of interference and maintain precision of remote aversive memories. We discuss evidence for how these mechanisms are affected by stress, a risk factor for PTSD, to increase memory interference and decrease precision. Using this scaffold we ideate strategies to curb overgeneralization of fear in PTSD.

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Section: Modeling Ptsd Phenotypes In Connectivity Of Human Dg-ca3 Neumentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis, Fear Generalization, and Stress

Besnard

Sahay

2015

Neuropsychopharmacol

192

159

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“…They therefore fly fatigued frequently [3], despite growing evidence that fatigue degrades neurobehavioral performance and fundamental piloting skills [4,5]. The development of non-invasive methods to monitor and detect fatigue in pilots is consequently an area of great military interest [6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of long and short simulated flights on the saccadic eye movement velocity of aviators

Stasi

McCamy

Martínez-Conde

et al. 2016

Physiology & Behavior

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Aircrew fatigue is a major contributor to operational errors in civil and military aviation. Objective detection of pilot fatigue is thus critical to prevent aviation catastrophes. Previous work has linked fatigue to changes in oculomotor dynamics, but few studies have studied this relationship in critical safety environments. Here we measured the eye movements of US Marine Corps combat helicopter pilots before and after simulated flight missions of different durations.We found a decrease in saccadic velocities after long simulated flights compared to short simulated flights. These results suggest that saccadic velocity could serve as a biomarker of aviator fatigue.

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“…EEG recordings are one of the most reliable contemporary methods to assess operator CP, and they can be collected continuously, without interfering with the tasks at hand (Borghini, Astolfi, Vecchiato, Mattia, & Babiloni, 2012;Tracey & Flower, 2014). Yet, EEG has failed to gain traction in aviation safety, due to the technical and methodological difficulties of measuring EEG in real aircraft and the intrusive and bulky nature of the equipment (Caldwell, Caldwell, Brown, & Smith, 2004;Caldwell, Hall, & Erickson, 2002; Caldwell, Kelly, Roberts, Jones, & Lewis, 1997; Dussault, Jouanin, & Guezennec, 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Task complexity modulates pilot electroencephalographic activity during real flights

Stasi

Díaz-Piedra

Suárez³

et al. 2015

Psychophysiology

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Most research connecting task performance and neural activity to date has been conducted in laboratory conditions. Thus, field studies remain scarce, especially in extreme conditions such as during real flights. Here, we investigated the effects of flight procedures of varied complexity on the in-flight EEG activity of military helicopter pilots. Flight procedural complexity modulated the EEG power spectrum: highly demanding procedures (i.e., takeoff and landing) were associated with higher EEG power in the higher frequency bands, whereas less demanding procedures (i.e., flight exercises) were associated with lower EEG power over the same frequency bands. These results suggest that EEG recordings may help to evaluate an operator's cognitive performance in challenging real-life scenarios, and thus could aid in the prevention of catastrophic events.

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The warrior in the machine: neuroscience goes to war

Cited by 35 publications

References 100 publications

Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis, Fear Generalization, and Stress

Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis, Fear Generalization, and Stress

Effects of long and short simulated flights on the saccadic eye movement velocity of aviators

Task complexity modulates pilot electroencephalographic activity during real flights

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