Cognitive Change in Special Forces Personnel following Stressful Survival Training

Abstract

Understanding the deterioration in cognitive functioning produced by stress continues to gain in importance due to the increasing demands imposed by technologically sophisticated systems. Although the general deleterious effects of stress are well established, the relative sensitivity of different cognitive functions to stress and the pattern of cognitive recovery with rest have not been fully distinguished. In this paper, we examined the cognitive performance of Special Forces soldiers immediately prior to and immediately following one week of Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) School training at Ft. Bragg, NC. Post-stress cognitive performance was characterized by significantly increased response time with minimal change in response accuracy. While response time increased for all tasks, memory appears to be most sensitive to stress. Performance returned to pre-stress levels the next morning following one night of sleep. The tasks affected most in the current study differed from changes which follow primarily upon physical stress, implying that the effects of combined psychological and physical stress on cognitive performance differ substantively from the effects of physical demand alone.

Can Physiological and Psychological Factors Predict Dropout from Intense 10-Day Winter Military Survival Training?

“…Especially important in the field training is the fact that physiological and psychological stress can be simulated to meet real-life scenarios regarding military missions. Therefore, field training often includes high demands for both psychological and physiological tolerance due to energy deficit, sleep restriction and high amount of physical activity combined with demands for executive function [4][5][6][7]. Previous studies have reported negative changes in physical fitness, body composition and hormonal profile after intense military field training periods [4,5] as well as after survival field training [8][9][10].…”

“…In addition to high physiological burden often involved in the military field training, psychological demands may be increased and challenged [6,12]. The field training typically include energy and sleep deficit and they further expose individuals to negative changes in mood and may further set challenges to mental executive function [6,7]. It has been shown that affective reactivity to stressors vary based on sleep duration such that sleep loss may amplify loss of positive affect on days with stressors [13].…”

“…It has been shown that affective reactivity to stressors vary based on sleep duration such that sleep loss may amplify loss of positive affect on days with stressors [13]. Together, energy and sleep deficit may compromise critical psychological and cognitive abilities during the field training [6,7]. Although no previous studies have assessed whether psychological parameters are associated with dropout in intense military field training, some of the previous studies have focused on military service or shorter specialised military courses [3,14].…”