Team studies how soldier loads affect perceptions of friends, foes.

• Author: Beidel, Eric
• Position: Defense Technology Newswire

* There have been countless studies on how heavy loads affect the soldiers carrying them. Most have dealt with the lower body, gait and stamina.

Kinesiology researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have received a Navy Health Research Center grant to look at the upper half the body.

Biomechanics studies have taught scientists plenty about loads from the perspective of locomotion, stamina and oxygen use. The UMass Amherst team wants to determine how the weight a soldier carries can affect reaction time, visual attention to critical details and the ability to tell the difference between friend and foe.

"Load is not a new issue for field commanders to consider," said Richard Van Emmerik, lead researcher and director of the university's sensory-motor control laboratory. Plenty of studies have dealt with affects on gait. But "we will for the first time look at how the upper...