Can biological motion research provide insight on how to reduce friendly fire incidents?

The ability to accurately detect, perceive, and recognize biological motion can be associated with a fundamental drive for survival, and it is a significant interest for perception researchers. This field examines various perceptual features of motion and has been assessed and applied in several real-world contexts (e.g., biometric, sport). Unexplored applications still exist however, including the military issue of friendly fire. There are many causes and processes leading to friendly fire and specific challenges that are associated with visual information extraction during engagement, such as brief glimpses, low acuity, camouflage, and uniform deception. Furthermore, visual information must often be processed under highly stressful (potentially threatening), time-constrained conditions that present a significant problem for soldiers. Biological motion research and anecdotal evidence from experienced combatants suggests that intentions, emotions, identities of human motion can be identified and discriminated, even when visual display is degraded or limited. Furthermore, research suggests that perceptual discriminatory capability of movement under visually constrained conditions is trainable. Therefore, given the limited military research linked to biological motion and friendly fire, an opportunity for cross-disciplinary investigations exists. The focus of this paper is twofold: first, to provide evidence for the possible link between biological motion factors and friendly fire, and second, to propose conceptual and methodological considerations and recommendations for perceptual-cognitive training within current military programs.