Abstract
Soldiers’ must adjust their rifle so fired rounds travel on the correct trajectory to strike an intended target. This process, known as shot grouping and zeroing, is essential to weapon firing accuracy. The purpose of this study was to determine whether neurocognitive temporal training (NTT) would improve grouping and zeroing precision. Research volunteers were mostly male (93%) and between the ages of 18 and 44 (mean and SD = 28.16 ± 8.1). No differences in shot group size, height and width shot patterns, or the number of rounds expended among those receiving NTT (n = 19), compared with a control group (n = 24) (p > .05). These findings are contrary to other findings demonstrating improved eye-hand coordination following NTT. A greater impact of NTT may be seen in tasks that are novel, complex, or performed under duress, as opposed to the more familiar tasks selected for this research.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the soldiers who volunteered for this research, as well as the members of their Chain-of-Command. We also thank our colleagues, Dr. Leah Enders, Mr. Cory Overby, Ms. Angela Jeter, Ms. Jessica Villarreal from DCS Corp, and EST operators Mr. Gill Gallardo and Mr. Shelton Reyes (CSRA Corp) for their outstanding support. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, U.S. Army Research Laboratory or the U.S. Government.
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Boykin, G.L., Rice, V.J. (2018). Neurocognitive Temporal Training for Improved Military Marksmanship: Grouping and Zeroing. In: Baldwin, C. (eds) Advances in Neuroergonomics and Cognitive Engineering. AHFE 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 586. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60642-2_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60642-2_7
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