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units are needed, or if the movements are To optimise their performance capacity, essential detail – those crucial factors
complex, or when the individual has not 100m sprinters need to select and then framing a decision to shoot are made
practiced. disregard information to perform to a through the processing of very simple and
Significant features of reaction and maximum potential. Key information specific triggers. T ese triggers form your
movement time can be influenced by the must be attended to and a conscious effort ‘Honest Held Belief’ – the reality of the
individual’s own mental ‘load’, the choices made to ignore irrelevant information in moment as you experienced it, no one else
that individuals face and their own order to maximise their reaction time. On – you alone.
physical and mental state at the time they the blocks a sprinter will be aware of the If your concentration is with the ‘B’ of
need to act. In the case of Carl Lewis it starters voice, the sounds of the crowd or the Bang – how many questions should you
is reasonable to suggest that the conscious competitors alongside. T ey may feel their realistically be able to answer surrounding
decision to avoid another false start and own heart pounding and the adrenaline your reaction to a visual trigger? Are the
disqualification lost him the race. rush of anxiety, they may be aware of the movements of colleagues, vehicles and
For the firearms officer facing an armed wind or temperature – but to perform peripheral details really important for
assailant, science breaks down the process at their optimum everything must be your survival at the time you pulled the
of decision making into small but separate disregarded apart from the one crucial trigger – maybe not?
considerations. First the visual system element of focus. T e sound of the gun! T e world of sports performance
needs time to detect the sensory input Mindset is the crucial factor that seems to suggest that there is very little
from an object, loudness, brightness, size separates winners from losers. T e ideal that can be added to those split seconds
or movement etc. At this stage there is where training and anticipation flow
usually no conscious awareness for what is together and automatic activation drives
taking place (often this process happens in Mindset is the your decision making: narrowed external
less than one tenth of a second). attention, the identification of a threat
Next comes the time in which the crucial factor cue, the urgency to prevent injury – all
brain makes sense of what it is that is may take place within less than half of
happening, memory interprets what it is that separates one second.
that it believes to be taking place – this Will the IPCC compelling officers to
can lead to a rapid and automatic response interview now somehow illicit a more
if the individual is highly skilled. Good winners from detailed or accurate account or greater facts,
situational awareness reduces the time the expansion of your personal experience
needed to process information. However, losers. – or will enthusiastic interviewers with
skilled performance and automaticity can elementary or rusty technique just create
be a double-edged sword. Errors often and capture memory errors; a generation
remain undetected in the split second that mindset enables the body to function of legal ammunition for a judicial process?
action is initiated; this is especially true in automatically with little conscious effort. We wait to see…
situations of surprise or where an action In this optimal state, complex tasks In summary, there is a lot we already
alters unexpectedly. appear to be easily accomplished and know about human performance
Errors can occur through what is known time can either stand still or rush by as under high pressure, fast reactions and
as ‘Stimulus-Response Compatibility’, the performer is completely immersed in movements alert and inform us of the
the pattern of visual information and what he or she is doing. performers likely capacity to attend to
movements from the target become So what can happen to any subsequent information and form memories. Simply
interpreted with a very narrow specific memory of these high-pressure events, stated, if there is no need within ACPO
meaning. T e sudden hand movement those moments when winning is Guidelines for principal officers to confer
with a mobile phone could be interpreted everything? Linford Christie describes his with colleagues about what was in their
as a small handgun rising towards race experience in this way: “…by now, the minds at the time they used force, there
the officer, especially with pre-event thinking has stopped. T e concentration should be no need to ask further questions
information suggesting that a weapon is is totally with the ‘B’ of the Bang! Once about those same personal experiences
being carried, or if the encounter takes away, whatever was left in your mind has within interview.
place in a low light environment. gone completely.” T e event described within the officers
Movement time and engagement within To perform at the highest levels of MG11 statement reflects a unique life
any use of force option is influenced by sporting achievement, athletes need to changing experience – a combination of
training and also high emotional arousal, develop what has been termed a narrow narrowed attention and time compression,
frequently created by the emergency of attentional focus, where concentration when what really mattered was beating
the situation. High emotional arousal can turns exclusively towards the delivery and surviving “the ‘B’ of the Bang” ■
cause ‘choking’ – a breakdown in skilled of a skill – stimuli recognition and then
performance, a sudden realisation of what movement. To achieve this goal peripheral
is happening can lead to an inward focus or non-essential details must be disregarded
or distraction away from the threat and if your intention is to win.
this can lead to longer movement times or Performing within a life-threatening
a failure to react. encounter demands the disregard of non-