Schedule of Events | Symposia

The Impact of Passive Heat Stress in Virtual Simulations on Decision-Making, Situational Awareness, and Executive Functioning in Military Personnel

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Frank Schilder¹ (f.p.m.schilder@umcutrecht.nl), Antoin de Weijer², Bastiaan Bruinsma³, Elbert Geuze⁴; ¹UMC Utrecht, ²Ministry of Defence

Decision-making in military occupations is vital for operational success and personnel safety and relies on situational awareness and strategic alignment of operational goals. This study examined the effects of acute operational and passive heat stress on cognitive performance in a randomized controlled trial with 68 servicemembers. Participants were assigned to low- or high-stress groups and completed two military scenarios using a simulator. Decision-making and situational awareness were scored from scenario recordings, while executive functioning was assessed through a cognitive test battery. Results revealed no significant changes in decision-making scores within groups over time or between groups overall. However, a significant interaction effect indicated improved decision-making performance in the high-stress group during the second assessment (i.e. prolonged heat exposure) compared to the low-stress group. Situational awareness, working memory, and inhibitory control remained unaffected by stress exposure. Cognitive flexibility showed significant improvements in perseverative and non-perseverative error rates and faster reaction times at follow-up across both groups. These findings suggest that the level of passive heat stress applied in this study has limited effects on cognitive performance in virtual military scenarios. While high-stress conditions seemed to enhance decision-making under specific conditions, other cognitive functions remained stable. The improvements observed in cognitive flexibility likely resulted from repeated exposure to the tasks. Passive heat stress remains a promising area for research, but its effects may only become fully apparent under more intense or physiologically demanding conditions, warranting further investigation into its potential impact on higher-order cognitive functions in military contexts.

Topic Area: THINKING: Decision making