Stress Tolerance - The Stress Tolerance Battery is a sophisticated analysis designed to measure an individual's ability to maintain consistent performance in the presence of mental stress and time pressure. The examinee is required to perform a timed mental task while subject to a stressful working environment incorporating negative feedback, task overload and tight time deadlines.
While other measures of stress performance are typically just self-rated questionnaires, this patented test battery is unique in that it utilizes the ability of a computer to simulate real-life stressful working conditions with multimedia test stimuli while recording the response time to allow analyses of both accuracy and speed. The scoring of this test battery is a composite score taking into account many factors including both accuracy as well as the timing of the response.
In addition to providing a measure of the level of overall performance degradation under stress, this battery also incorporates Error Pattern Analysis to identify the precise stress response profile for each examinee. Some subjects become more inhibited when placed under stress and commit passive errors of omission; others become more impulsive under stress and commit active errors of commission. The Stress Tolerance Battery not only identifies to what degree the subject's performance degrades under stress, but also in what manner his or her performance is affected. The overall scoring algorithm was developed in collaboration with expert military psychologists that specialize in stress management and the training of special commandos to maximize performance in high-risk missions involving life-or-death split-second decisions. Overall performance on this test battery has been used for over 10 years to determine which candidates should be accepted to Elite Special Forces, as well as to place each candidate in the most appropriate role in order to maximize their performance. Performance on this test battery may be influenced by attention to detail, task-focus, self-efficacy, emotional stability / resilience and situational awareness.