Neuroergonomics of Skill Acquisition: Genetic and Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Studies

Parasuraman, Raja; Greenwood, Pamela; Scheldrup, Melissa; Falcone, Brian; Kidwell, Brian; McKendrick, Ryan · 2019 · Crossref

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100216

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Summary

This paper investigates the application of neuroergonomic methods—specifically molecular genetics and non-invasive brain stimulation—to accelerate skill acquisition in complex multitasking environments. Motivated by the high resource costs and time requirements associated with traditional training for expertise in fields such as military aviation and intelligence analysis, the authors sought to determine if genetic factors and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) could enhance learning efficiency. The study comprised two experiments. The first examined the interaction between the Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) gene and training in supervisory control of unmanned vehicles. Ninety-nine participants were genotyped for the Val158Met polymorphism and divided into Met/Met, Met/Val, and Val/Val groups. They performed a simulated air defense task requiring the management of multiple unmanned vehicles under varying loads. The second experiment assessed the effects of tDCS on skill acquisition in the Space Fortress game, a complex perceptual-motor task. One hundred participants were randomly assigned to receive either sham stimulation or 2 mA anodal tDCS to one of four scalp sites targeting dorsal or ventral frontoparietal attention networks. Participants underwent twelve training blocks, with performance measured across sub-tasks involving ship control, velocity, response speed, and scoring. In the first experiment, a significant gene-by-training interaction was observed. Individuals with the Met/Met genotype, associated with higher prefrontal dopamine availability, demonstrated significantly greater training-related gains in performance compared to those with Val alleles. Specifically, the Met/Met group showed an 18% increase in successfully destroyed targets over four training blocks, whereas other groups showed negligible improvement. This benefit extended to reduced enemy incursions and higher attack efficiency, ruling out response bias as the cause. In the second experiment, tDCS accelerated skill acquisition within the first hour of training. Stimulation of the right parietal (C4) and right ventral frontal (F10) sites significantly improved ship control scores compared to sham. Right parietal stimulation also enhanced ship velocity, while left ventral frontal (F9) stimulation improved response speed. These findings indicate that modulating dorsal and ventral attention networks facilitates specific components of complex task learning. The results suggest that neuroergonomic approaches can supplement traditional training methods to develop expertise more rapidly. The genetic findings imply that training protocols could be tailored to individual genotypes to optimize outcomes, particularly for tasks requiring high executive function. The tDCS results demonstrate that brief, non-invasive stimulation can significantly reduce the time required to master complex skills by targeting specific attentional networks. These methods offer potential solutions for manpower shortages and resource constraints in high-stakes operational domains.

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• cognitive capacity variation