Augmented reality as a tool for cognitive de-biasing in the military

Augmented reality in the military

Military personnel face an operating environment characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Here, rapid decision-making often necessitates the use of mental heuristics, or ‘rules of thumb’, to quickly overcome these complexities. However, this causes some individuals to be prone to cognitive biases, meaning that they can neglect potentially important information.

We are using bespoke augmented reality (AR) technology, coupled with machine learning algorithms, to explore how individuals’ eye and reaching movements can be assessed to characterise levels of cognitive biases. It is hoped that the data will allow us to identify individuals who are more prone to specific biases, as this could implicate both recruitment and training procedures in the future.

This project is funded by the Defence Science Technologies Laboratory (DSTL), in affiliation with Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) and Thales Group. It is being led by Professor Mark Wilson, who is collaborating with Dr Piotr Slowinski (Mathematics, University of Exeter), Dr Helen Muncie (Thales Group), and Ben Grindley (DSTL).

Contact

For more information on this project, please contact Prof Mark Wilson.