Analysis of performance on a modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test for the military. Issue 1 (3rd July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moten, Cardy; Kennedy, Quinn; Alt, Jonathan; Nesbitt, Peter
• Is Part Of: Journal of defense analytics and logistics. Volume 1:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 34
• Page End: 46
• Publication Date: 2017-07-03
• Subjects: Military -- Cognitive flexibility -- Non-perseverative errors -- Wargaming -- Wisconsin Card Sorting Test -- Working memory; Military art and science -- Periodicals; Military research -- Periodicals; Defense industries -- Periodicals; Logistics -- Periodicals; 355.4
• DOI: 10.1108/JDAL-05-2017-0007
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2399-6439

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: Current Army doctrine stresses a need for military leaders to have the capability to make flexible and adaptive decisions based on a future unknown environment, location and enemy. To assess a military decision maker's ability in this context, this paper aims to modify the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test which assesses cognitive flexibility, into a military relevant map task. Thirty-four military officers from all service branches completed the map task. Design/methodology/approach: The purpose of this study was to modify a current psychological task that measures cognitive flexibility into a military relevant task that includes the challenge of overcoming experiential bias, and understand underlying causes of individual variability in the decision-making and cognitive flexibility behavior of active duty military officers on this task. Findings: Results indicated that non-perseverative errors were a strong predictor of cognitive flexibility performance on the map task. Decomposition of non-perseverative error into efficient errors and random errors revealed that participants who did not complete the map task changed their sorting strategy too soon within a series, resulting in a high quantity of random errors. Originality/value: This study serves as the first step in customizing cognitive psychological tests for a military purpose and understanding why some military participants show poor cognitive flexibility.