Use of Functional near Infrared Imaging to Investigate Neural Correlates of Expertise in Military Target Identification

Abstract

This paper explores the use of functional near infrared imaging in the investigation of expertise in an applied setting, specifically that of military vehicle recognition and identification. Although brain research has shown strong support for the localization of function for identifying objects, specifically in areas such as the face fuseiform gyrus, the authors believe there may be potential in measuring the upper regions of the parietal cortex to find differences between novices and experts. Four participants, two novices and two experts, were used in a military vehicle identification task while being measured with a Functional Near Infrared (fNIR) imager. Results show promise for further use of this technology in training, evaluation and augmented cognition.

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