Dr. Justin Sanchez - Programs ↑
metanymous в посте Metapractice (оригинал в ЖЖ)
Negative impacts of stress on the cognitive, emotional, and physical well-being of warfighters is irrefutable. Recent technological developments in neuroscience present the opportunity to address these challenges as never before. Novel molecular biological techniques, coupled with in vivo measurement technologies, can allow assessment of the effects of stress with extreme temporal and anatomical precision, leading to a better understanding of stress and opportunities for intervention.
Narrative Networks
Why do people accept and act on certain kinds of information while dismissing others? Why are some narrative themes successful at building support for terrorism? What role can narratives play in causing—and helping to treat—Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? These questions deal with the role narratives play in human psychology and sociology, and their answers have strategic implications for defense missions.
Neuro-FAST
Military personnel control sophisticated systems, experience extraordinary stress, and are subject to injury of the brain. To address these challenges, DARPA pursues innovative neurotechnology and advanced understanding of the brain using a multidisciplinary approach that combines data processing, mathematical modeling, and novel interfaces. The Neuro Function, Activity, Structure, and Technology (Neuro-FAST) program is part of a broader portfolio of programs within DARPA that support President Obama’s brain initiative. The program seeks to enable unprecedented visualization and decoding of brain activity.
RAM
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious cause of disability in the United States. Diagnosed in more than 270,000 military servicemembers since 2000 and affecting an estimated 1.7 million U.S. civilians each year1, TBI frequently results in an impaired ability to retrieve memories formed prior to injury and a reduced capacity to form or retain new memories following injury. Despite the scale of the problem, few effective therapies currently exist to mitigate the long-term consequences of TBI on memory. Through the Restoring Active Memory (RAM) program, DARPA seeks to accelerate the development of technology able to address this public health challenge and help servicemembers and others overcome memory deficits by developing new neuroprosthetics to bridge gaps in the injured brain.
Revolutionizing Prosthetics
When DARPA launched the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program in 2006, the state of upper-limb prosthetic technology was far behind lower-limb technology. Advancing upper-limb technology was judged to be a more difficult medical and engineering challenge.
SUBNETS
The Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS) program was created in response to a pressing need. Despite the continued best efforts of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to protect the health of U.S. servicemembers and veterans, the effects of neuropsychological illness brought on by war, traumatic injuries, and other experiences remain challenging to treat. Current approaches—surgery, medications, and psychotherapy—can often help to alleviate the worst effects of illnesses such as major depression and post-traumatic stress, but they are imprecise and not universally effective. Through SUBNETS, DARPA hopes to generate the knowledge and technology required to deliver relief to patients with otherwise intractable neuropsychological illness.
http://www.darpa.mil/staff/dr-justin-sanchez