The Potential Societal Impact of Augmented Cognition Mark E. Koltko-Rivera, Ph.D. Professional Services Group, Inc. PO Box 4914, Winter Park, Florida, 32793-4914 USA E-mail: mark@professionalservicesgroup.net Abstract Of necessity, the Augmented Cognition (AugCog) research program, in order to be pursued successfully, likely will provoke important and far-reaching developments in cognitive science, as spin-off products. These include a theoretical clarification of ‘cognitive status/state’ and ‘cognitive process/function,’ and improved methods of measuring these constructs. A brain mapping project on the scale (and the payoff) of the Human Genome Project will also spin off of the AugCog research; said spin-off may itself lead to a major development in artificial intelligence. Finally, the relationship of cognition, affect, motivation, and personality will of necessity be clarified in the process of pursuing the AugCog program. 1 Introduction Let us begin with a statement of the goals and program of Augmented Cognition (AugCog): Augmented Cognition research includes the study of methods for addressing cognitive bottlenecks via technologies that assess the user’s cognitive status in real time. A computational interaction employing such a system monitors the state of the user, through behavioral, psychophysiological and/or neurophysiological data acquired from the user in real time, and adapts or augments the computational interface to significantly improve their performance on the task at hand. (Schmorrow & Kruse, 2004, p. 1) It is understandable why cognitive bottlenecks should be of interest to the U.S. Department of Defense. Military service has always placed a strong demand upon members of the armed forces for cognitive and behavioral performance. In addition, several emerging trends in American military operations are converging in such a way as to increase the cognitive demands made upon the individual warfighter. To mention only a few such trends: • Network Centric Warfare, in which tactical information is exchanged in real time among ground, sea, air, and space platforms (U.S. Department of Defense, 2003); • the Army’s Future Force Warrior program, in which soldiers are to be outfitted with extensive electronic sensors, and directed by command far from the field through telecommunications (U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center, 2004); and, • the increasing use of advanced human-computer interaction in military contexts. Given the cognitive demands made by traditional requirements and emerging trends in military service, it is crucial that military personnel perform optimally at cognitive tasks (e.g., correctly perceiving signals, making decisions, etc.). However, human information processing is marked by surprisingly narrow constraints. For example, visual short-term memory appears to have an upper bound of only four or five objects (Alvarez & Cavanagh, 2004). More broadly, some findings suggest, juggling four variables simultaneously is stretching the limit of overall human information processing capacity (Halford, Baker, McCredden, & Bain, 2005). Approaches such as Network Centric Warfare, and programs such as Future Force Warrior, will place demands on human information processing capacity that extend to the limit of currently available capacity—and perhaps beyond. Given these interests in the military domain, it is reasonable to project that the AugCog program will ultimately be successful, through being granted the resources that it requires. However, even if only to consider the wisdom of