American Psychological Association

Outside Witness Testimony FY2003

Senate Appropriations Committee

Subcommittee on Veterans, Housing and Urban Development

Fiscal Year 2003 Appropriations for the

National Science Foundation,

National Aeronautics and Space Administration,

And Department of Veterans Affairs

The American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization of more than 155,000 psychologists and affiliates.  Because our behavioral scientists play vital roles within the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), APA will address the proposed Fiscal Year 2003 research budgets for each of these three agencies.

National Science Foundation

As a member of the larger science community and an active leader in the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), APA strongly recommends increasing NSF’s overall budget by $718 million (or 15%) above the Fiscal Year 2002 level of $4.79 billion, bringing the agency’s budget to $5.508 billion in Fiscal Year 2003.  We also would like to highlight the importance of fully funding two new NSF priorities in 2003, the special research initiative in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, slated to receive $10 million in its first year of support, and the Science of Learning Centers (SLCs), proposed at $20 million.

Core Psychological Research at NSF

NSF is the only federal agency whose primary mission is to support basic research and education in math, engineering and science – including behavioral and social science.  NSF’s investment in basic research across these disciplines has allowed for extraordinary scientific and technological progress, ensuring continued economic growth, improved prevention of disease, and strengthened national security.  NSF’s concern for education from kindergarten through graduate school allows for what we know about developmental processes, cognition, learning, and the environment to best construct the schools in which our children learn and to well inform the teachers who educate them, enabling our citizens to meet the intellectual and social challenges of the Twenty-First Century.

The necessity to support basic research continues to be paramount.  With the increasing globalization of science, the U.S. faces greater-than-ever competition for scientific innovation and discovery.  At the same time that we must work in international communities of researchers and scholars, we must find new ways to make our country safe from threats not only to our physical structures but to the American tradition of free and shared science and to the many challenges we face at home.  Our best defense is an offensive strategy in which we continue to be the best producer of science, ideas, and technology.  We can do this only on the basis of a solid foundation of basic research. 

APA and CNSF recommend that additional funds for NSF above the FY 2002 baseline be devoted to achieving the following objectives: 1) increase by $220 million the funding for core programs of research and education; 2) increase funding by $220 million to continue supporting key initiatives, including nanotechnology, biocomplexity, information technology research, workforce development (including mathematics and science partnerships), mathematics research, and a new priority area in social, behavioral and economic sciences; 3) provide an additional $130 million to increase grant size and duration; 4) provide an additional $100 million for Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction and Major Research Instrumentation; 5) provide an increase of $25 million to assist with homeland security and anti-terrorism efforts; and 6) provide $23 million to increase graduate student stipends.

Although psychologists receive funding from diverse programs within NSF, most core psychological research is supported by the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE), with its focus on the variables that determine human behavior across all ages, affect interactions among individuals and groups, and decide how social and economic systems develop and change.   A number of psychological scientists funded through SBE also lead ongoing basic research efforts with direct relevance to the events of September 11 and their aftermath, and APA applauds SBE for moving quickly to provide psychological researchers with emergency grants (through the agency’s Small Grants for Exploratory Research program) to address time-critical issues such as trauma prevention and intervention and large-scale risk management.

The Biological Sciences Directorate provides support for psychologists who ask questions about the very principles and mechanisms that govern life at the level of the genome and cell, or at the level of a whole individual, family or species.  Our increasing sophistication about the genetic mechanisms of life allows us to ask increasingly complex questions about brain functioning.  It also can lead us to ask how the genome is translated into a functioning, thriving organism – that is, what is the exchange of gene and environment that decides whether the individual is more likely to learn than to forget, to love than to hate?  These kinds of question cannot be answered by biology alone.  An understanding of behavior requires analysis at all levels of functioning, from the cell to the whole organism, and an appreciation of the complex ways in which the environment impacts on the individual.  It also requires description of the manner in which such interactions are written into the individual’s history, and then serve to shape its behavior in the future.

Special Research Priority in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences

Given the pace and demands of our increasingly technological society, APA strongly supports NSF’s proposed $10 million initial investment in Fiscal Year 2003 for a new priority area in Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences to further explore the complex interactions among society, its institutions, and technology.  This priority area will examine human issues in the design and development of technological advances along with human adaptation to these dramatic changes, enabling us to develop technologies which enhance human capabilities while giving us tools to take greater advantage of technology and  better anticipate and prepare for its consequences.  The rapidly changing societal capabilities associated with technological development provide us with new opportunities to interact with the natural environment as well as with social and economic systems, and the new SBE priority area also will seek to address questions about these human-ecosystem interactions in support of the Administration’s climate change research program.  APA expects that the initial level of support for the special SBE research priority area will be a “down payment” on more significant investments in future years.

New Science of Learning Centers

Investment in research on the learning process, the context of learning and learning technologies is crucial to both successful educational reform and effective workforce development, and the new NSF Science of Learning Centers (SLCs) will serve as the foundation-wide centerpiece of the Learning for the 21^st Century Workforce priority area in Fiscal Year 2003.  These multidisciplinary, multi-institutional centers will build collaborative research communities of scientists, educators, community groups and industries capable of addressing fundamental questions in learning and applying that knowledge to schools and workforce contexts.   

APA strongly recommends that Congress support the new SLCs, with the longer-term goal of making strides in math and science education analogous to the tremendous leaps forward we currently are making by applying research on reading.  These improvements in our understanding of how children learn to read and how teachers can better help them are due in large part to research sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health.  NSF is uniquely poised to support similar breakthroughs in the critical areas of math and science learning, skills which are particularly critical in our technologically-sophisticated world.  NSF scientists can engage investigators from the range of disciplines it supports, from cognitive psychology and neuroscience to geography, engineering and robotics, and examine learning in adult and child populations to support both workforce and formal education needs.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Humans perform critical functions throughout all aspects of every NASA mission from concept development, system design and acquisition through operations. People are critical elements of complex aerospace systems. The ability to measure and predict human performance through all mission phases enhances mission safety and mission success. NASA Human Factors research and technology enhance the national capability to explore the stars and understand our own planet while contributing to the safety, affordability and efficiency of aerospace operations.

Office of Biological and Physical Research

In order to continue advancing our understanding of human adaptation to space, APA joins the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in recommending an annual increase of $100 million for investigator–initiated, peer reviewed research in Fiscal Year 2003 for the Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR).

NASA is demonstrating an unprecedented interest in psychological and behavioral research. That interest stems from historical observations of astronauts and cosmonauts living aboard Mir and the recognition that a multicultural workforce is building and occupying the International Space Station. Psychologists are involved at many levels within NASA, studying everything from basic neuroscience in rats to optimization of the habitability of next-generation space suits.  Much of this research has been funded OBPR.

The Biomedical Research and Countermeasures and Advanced Human Support Technologies Programs are both involved in reducing threats to humans exposed to physiological and psychological health risks during space flight.  NASA has focused considerable energy on sleep and circadian rhythms, performance related to neurovestibular function, psychophysiological monitoring, and cognitive performance on short- duration missions.  There is increasing recognition, however, that NASA needs to devote greater attention to behavioral health and psychosocial adaptation as these factors could significantly impact the success of long-duration missions.

Human factors considerations for long-duration spaceflight extend far beyond physical crew interfaces into considerations of behavioral, psychological, physiological, and operational factors’ influence on human performance and safety.  The use of isolation chambers such as the Bioplex facility at Johnson Space Center offer the potential, and have been used successfully, to study behavior and performance under conditions of extended isolation and confinement.  As such, it represents a high fidelity simulation facility for the development of advanced technologies and methodologies for monitoring individual and interpersonal behavior, as well as for studies of countermeasure testing and evaluation.

Office of Aero-Space Technology

This arm of NASA makes good use of psychological science closer to Earth.  APA applauds NASA for its attention to human factors research and recommends at least the $220.1 million requested for the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) to allow for critical Aviation Systems Safety and Airspace Systems programs to continue as planned.

Two of NASA’s long-term interests have been to reduce the aircraft accident rate and increase the aviation throughput. The vast majority of accidents are attributed to human error. Recent increases in air traffic volume and airport delays make these challenges especially daunting. NASA will need to make an extraordinary investment in human factors research to achieve these ambitious milestones.  Fortunately, several NASA programs support these important goals – most notably the Aviation Safety Program but also Aerospace Operations Systems, Engineering for Complex Systems, Advanced Air Transportation Technologies and Virtual Airspace Modeling Systems.  Critical research focuses on data mining, modeling and visualization for the proactive management of aerospace system risk, allowing for the monitoring of incidents and normal operations to identify precursors of error and mitigate risk before accidents happen.

However, in order to do this, enormous volumes of qualitative and quantitative data must be transformed into useful information for expert analysts through the application of new information technology tools.  For example, the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) is a national aviation safety resource consisting of first-hand verbal reports of accidents and mishaps from a broad spectrum of aviation professionals (e.g., pilots, controllers, mechanics, dispatchers, flight attendants).  These reports provide critical data for expert trend analyses and queries that are then made available to the public and private sector. Further, the Aviation Performance Measuring System (APMS) provides a set of information technology tools to support content analysis of the hundreds of flight data recorder parameters (even thousands in the case of the Boeing 777) that are collected on every commercial airline flight. These tools allow the reconstruction of problems and entire flights from the collected data set and can identify common problems across flights. Finally, from the control tower, the Performance Data Analysis and Reporting System (PDARS) routinely collects, processes and disseminates Air Traffic Control radar track data for use in identifying normal operations and anomalous flightpaths.

Collectively, such data tracking systems will become part of a model to assess the impact of perturbations in the National Airspace System. Perturbations could include proposed technical innovations (such as advanced automation-assisted decision support) and changes in organizational structure or procedures, as well as accidents or terrorist attacks. Such a model will require a distributed simulation capability that can represent the full range of system behaviors at multiple levels of analysis, including people – the current backbone of the aviation system.

Department of Veterans Affairs

Investment in investigator-initiated research projects at the VA have led to an explosion of knowledge that promises to advance our understanding of disease and unlock new strategies for prevention, treatment and cures. Psychological researchers play crucial roles in addressing the many health challenges still confronting the veteran community.  APA joins the Friends of VA Medical Care and Health Research (FOVA), a coalition of over 50 organizations concerned about veterans’ health, in recommending $460 million for the VA Medical and Prosthetic Research Account in Fiscal Year 2003.  We also strongly support the Subcommittee’s recommendation to expand the VA’s Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC) program.

Psychological Research in the VA

Through its Medical and Prosthetic Research Account, the VA funds intramural research that supports its clinical mission to care for our nation’s veterans.  VA psychologists play a dual role in providing care for veterans and conducting research in all areas of health, including high-priority areas such as mental health, aging-related disorders and substance abuse.  Psychological researchers continue to make great strides in: improving the diagnosis and treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; developing more sensitive diagnostic tools to detect the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (problems increasingly seen both in our veterans and our aging population in society at large); and developing and implementing important substance abuse prevention programs.  Because research has such a positive impact on the quality of care, APA strongly encourages the VA to ensure that neither research nor care suffers by developing mechanisms to designate time for clinicians to conduct research.

Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Centers  

APA supports the important work being conducted by the eight VA Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Centers (MIRECCs) currently in existence throughout the country, but is disappointed that the VA did not increase the number of MIRECCs in Fiscal Year 2002 as directed by the Senate in last year’s report. These MIRECCs sponsor important basic and applied research as well as educational outreach to the VA community, and have been particularly effective in translating the findings of basic research into improved treatment protocols. The MIRECCs substantially support and upgrade the provision of mental illness services in their areas, but they exist in only eight of 22 networks and are clustered on the East and West coasts. We recommend that the Subcommittee provide funds for the establishment of three additional MIRECCs in Fiscal Year 2003.

Summary

APA appreciates this opportunity to provide written testimony in support of psychological research sponsored by NSF, NASA and the VA, and strongly encourages the Subcommittee to reaffirm its commitment to basic behavioral science at all three agencies.  We recognize that this year there is a special need to strengthen research programs and operations related to national security, and we hope that Congress also will reinvest in the longer-term basic research which enables us to meet the full range of social, economic, health, and security challenges ahead.

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