Human Performance Optimization ― The Science and Ethics of Enhancing Human Capabilities

The content of Human Performance Optimization is unique in terms of the focus, breadth, and scope of the individual chapter contributions. Moreover, this book was developed in response to a pressing need, first directed by the Chief of Staff of the Army, to examine current and future developments in behavioral, cognitive, and social neuroscience that may allow organizations to enhance individual worker and team performance. This volume captures a wide range of approaches, both with an eye to describing state of the art knowledge, and projecting what may become applicable in the near future.

The variety of social, technological, and scientific issues make this book indispensable in our time. Organizations of all sorts, but especially those who operate in "in extremis" or high-stakes settings, are seeking to improve the performance of their workers. The chapters' breadth and accessibility will allow strategic leaders of organizations to evaluate breaking news in HPO, and will also serve as an up-to-date review of the field for scientists involved in human performance research.

Michael D. Matthews is currently Professor of Engineering Psychology at the United States Military Academy. He is a Templeton Foundation Senior Positive Psychology Fellow, Fellow of the Army Chief of Staff's Strategic Studies Group, and author of Head Strong: How Psychology is Revolutionizing War (Oxford University Press, 2014.)

David M. Schnyer is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Texas, Austin. He completed a PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology from the University of Arizona. While at the Memory Disorders Research Center at Boston University School of Medicine he was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) K-award in multimodal neuroimaging techniques and trained at the Martino's Center for Biomedical Imaging (MGH). His lab researches the cognitive and neural systems that support memory and attention control in young and old healthy individuals, as well as in persons suffering from mental illness and traumatic brain injury.