Multitasking Gene May Help Drone Operators Control Robotic Swarms
A genetic variant that keeps dopamine levels high could lead to personalized training and also benefit personnel in ERs and air traffic control towers

Aug 26, 2014 |By Jeremy Hsu

For thousands of years generals such as Caesar and Napoleon have molded citizens into soldiers en masse by using the same drills and training techniques for everyone. A recent study suggests how genetic testing could enable more personalized training for today’s drone operators who remotely control missile-armed Predators and Reapers.

The small study, funded by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, looked at how different variants of the catechol-O-methyltransferase, or COMT, gene affected people’s multitasking performances. The gene makes an enzyme that breaks down certain neurochemicals such as dopamine, thereby affecting behavior and mood. Humans have three variants of COMT, labeled as Met/Met, Met/Val and Val/Val. These abbreviations refer to the amino acids methionine and valine in certain paired positions in the molecular structure of the enzyme. The Met and Val variants create observable differences in human behavior that have led researchers to nickname COMT the “worrier–warrior” gene.

In the study led by Raja Parasuraman, a psychologist at George Mason University and director of the Center of Excellence in Neuroergonomics, Technology and Cognition, participants trained on a simulation that required them to each control a swarm of six military drones in a battlefield scenario. The results showed that individuals who inherited the Met/Met “worrier” variant had a significant multitasking advantage over those with the Val/Met variant or Val/Val “warrior” variant in terms of how quickly they directed their drones to intercept incoming threats and efficiently destroy enemy aircraft.

The new human profiling system.  Time to start cataloging personality traits based on genetic code.

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