328 Pages 20 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    328 Pages 20 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    While there have been tremendous advances in our scientific understanding of the brain, this work has been largely academic, and often oriented toward clinical publication. Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Systems: Work and Everyday Life addresses the relationship between neurophysiological processes and the performance and experience of humans in everyday life. It samples the vast neuroscience literature to identify those areas of research that speak directly to the performance and experience of humans in everyday settings, highlighting the practical, everyday application of brain science.

    The book explains the underlying basis for well-established principles from human factors, ergonomics, and industrial engineering and design. It also sheds new light on factors affecting human performance and behavior. This is not an academic treatment of neuroscience, but rather a translation that makes modern brain science accessible and easily applicable to systems design, education and training, and the development of policies and practices. The authors supply clear and direct guidance on the applications of principles from brain science to everyday problems.

    With discussions of topics from brain science and their relevance to everyday activities, the book focuses on the science, describing the findings and the studies producing these findings. It then decodes how these findings relate to everyday life and how you can integrate them into your work to achieve more effective outcomes based on a fundamental understanding of how the operations of the human brain produce behavior and modulate performance.

    Introduction
    Acknowledgments
    References

    A Few Basics

    Neurons: A Basic Unit of the Brain
    Neurons Live in a Protected Fluid Environment
    The Brain Sustains a Homeostatic Balance
    Our Brains Are Continually Being Shaped
    Many Functions May Be Localized to Specific
    Regions of the Brain
    Everyday Activities Involve Integrated Functions Dispersed
    throughout the Brain
    The Brain Is a Complex System, Yet Is Only One Component
    in a Larger System of Systems
    No Two Brains Work Exactly the Same
    Our Best Measures Do Not Tell Us Exactly How the Brain Works
    Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
    Acknowledgments
    References

    Conscious Awareness

    Conscious versus Nonconscious Engagement
    Vulnerabilities That Arise Due to the Limits of Our
    Conscious Awareness
    Timing of Brain Processes and Conscious Awareness
    Default Network: Mind Wandering
    Inattentional Blindness
    Implicit Operations of the Brain
    Unconscious Impact of Cognitive State on Decisions
    Acknowledgments
    References

    Perceptual Experience

    Our Minds Attend To a Small Slice of What Our Brains Sense
    Our Judgment Is Shaped by Unconscious Sensory Experiences
    Perception Is Multisensory
    The Brain Responds More Strongly To Some Stimuli than Others
    Vulnerabilities Arising from Our Perceptual Processes
    Perceptual Activities the Brain Does Well
    Perception Is Not a Continuous Process
    Perceptual Processes May Be Flexibly Adapted To Circumstances
    The External World Is Replicated within the Brain
    Activity in the Brain Does Not Mean There Was a Conscious
    Perceptual Experience
    Our Brains Are Specially Tuned To the Actions of Others
    Our Sense of the World Is a Product of Our Social Environment
    Acknowledgments
    References

    Strengths and Weaknesses

    How to Cope with the Inherent Weaknesses of the Human Brain
    Designating to Our Strengths
    The Google Effect and the Symbiosis between Brain and
    Technology
    Once a Task Has Become Automated, Conscious Control
    Can Be Surprisingly Effortful
    Are We Multitaskers or Merely Good Task Switchers?
    Brains Reflexively Respond To Exceptions
    As "Pattern-Seeking Primates," the Default Condition Is to Believe
    Acknowledgments
    References

    Error

    Error from the Brain’s Perspective
    Organizational Approach to Human Error
    Confusion Regarding the Term Human Error
    Interactive Nature and Complexity of Human Error
    Error Classifications
    Summary
    Acknowledgments
    References

    Cognitive States

    Pharmacological Enhancement: Caffeine
    Pharmacological Enhancement: Nicotine
    Cognitive Enhancement through Physical Exercise
    Cognitive Enhancement through Meditation
    Concluding Thoughts and Future Directions
    Acknowledgments
    References

    Expertise

    Anders Ericsson and the Notion of Deliberative Practice
    What Makes an Expert Different?
    Acknowledgments
    References

    Teams and Groups

    Defining Groups
    Social Psychology and Neuroscience
    Cooperation and Altruism
    Group Intelligence
    Social Cognition, Metacognition, and Mentalization
    Neural Synchronization and Correlation During Group Processes
    Neuroeconomics
    Acknowledgments
    References

    Neurotechnology

    Neurotechnology to Augment, Train, Preserve, or Repair Cognitive Skills
    Neurotechnology as a Tool to Design or Adapt Human–Computer Interaction
    Neurotechnology as a New Modality through Which Systems Are Controlled
    Neurophysiological Measurement
    Desiderata for Design in Neurotechnology
    Future Directions
    Neurogaming
    Multiplayer Neurogaming
    Neurocognitive Approaches to Interactive Narratives
    Acknowledgments
    References

    Biography

    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 Mayagüez.  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.  

    "I think this book is very important in that it allows the layperson to connect the pieces of the brain puzzle back to him or herself. I think many people conceptually understand that caffeine is a psychoactive substance. The popular media does a good job at advertising how such substances have benefits to our cognitive processes like memory. However, to really grasp that each individual needs the proper dosing at the right time for caffeine to be beneficial is lost. Most people use caffeine to combat sleep deprivation and are not aware of the harm they are doing when they do not consider how caffeine actually affects the brain."
    —Cali Fidopiastis, University of Alabama at Birmingham