Objective Neurocognitive Assessment of Stress and Recovery in Military Personnel: The NPRO-8 MIL Two-Tier Screening Framework
Abstract
Prolonged military deployments expose personnel to sustained vigilance, disrupted sleep, uncertainty, repeated high-consequence decisions, separation from social support, and restricted opportunities for recovery. Military organizations routinely monitor physical fitness and medical readiness, but stress-related neurocognitive functioning remains assessed primarily through self-report, observation, performance outcomes, and clinical contact. These sources are indispensable, yet they may not reveal the physiological effort required to maintain performance or the capacity to recover after cognitive demand. This paper introduces NPRO-8 MIL, a military adaptation of the NPRO-8 Core mental-fitness screening framework. NPRO-8 MIL combines behavioral performance with functional near-infrared spectroscopy during five structured cognitive task modules. Eight NeuroProbes inform three higher-order pillars: Stress Load, Recovery Capacity, and Functional Impact. The underlying NPRO-8 Core has completed internal validation through 178 deterministic tests, 32,000 Monte Carlo examinations, 50,850 repeated robustness classifications, and parameter-sensitivity analyses. These findings establish computational coherence and predictable behavior, while prospective military reliability, external-validity, and predictive-validity studies remain necessary. Because fNIRS cannot feasibly be administered to every member of a large military population, a two-tier pathway is proposed: brief population-level digital screening followed by targeted NPRO-8 MIL assessment. Ethical safeguards addressing voluntariness, privacy, command access, purpose limitation, and protection from unauthorized selection or disciplinary use are integral to the framework. NPRO-8 MIL is presented as a screening and longitudinal monitoring approach, not a psychiatric diagnostic or autonomous fitness-for-duty instrument.
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BibTeX
@misc{rotgans2026objective,
title = {{Objective Neurocognitive Assessment of Stress and Recovery in Military Personnel: The NPRO-8 MIL Two-Tier Screening Framework}},
author = {Jerome I. Rotgans},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/4gbke_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/4gbke_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Objective Neurocognitive Assessment of Stress and Recovery in Military Personnel: The NPRO-8 MIL Two-Tier Screening Framework
AU - Jerome I. Rotgans
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/4gbke_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/4gbke_v1/
AB - Prolonged military deployments expose personnel to sustained vigilance, disrupted sleep, uncertainty, repeated high-consequence decisions, separation from social support, and restricted opportunities for recovery. Military organizations routinely monitor physical fitness and medical readiness, but stress-related neurocognitive functioning remains assessed primarily through self-report, observation, performance outcomes, and clinical contact. These sources are indispensable, yet they may not reveal the physiological effort required to maintain performance or the capacity to recover after cognitive demand. This paper introduces NPRO-8 MIL, a military adaptation of the NPRO-8 Core mental-fitness screening framework. NPRO-8 MIL combines behavioral performance with functional near-infrared spectroscopy during five structured cognitive task modules. Eight NeuroProbes inform three higher-order pillars: Stress Load, Recovery Capacity, and Functional Impact. The underlying NPRO-8 Core has completed internal validation through 178 deterministic tests, 32,000 Monte Carlo examinations, 50,850 repeated robustness classifications, and parameter-sensitivity analyses. These findings establish computational coherence and predictable behavior, while prospective military reliability, external-validity, and predictive-validity studies remain necessary. Because fNIRS cannot feasibly be administered to every member of a large military population, a two-tier pathway is proposed: brief population-level digital screening followed by targeted NPRO-8 MIL assessment. Ethical safeguards addressing voluntariness, privacy, command access, purpose limitation, and protection from unauthorized selection or disciplinary use are integral to the framework. NPRO-8 MIL is presented as a screening and longitudinal monitoring approach, not a psychiatric diagnostic or autonomous fitness-for-duty instrument.
ER -