Page 19 - Top Cover Issue 8

TOP COVER ISSUE 8 19

consciousness and human performance. brain, which fell upon the floor.’ . performance degrades. Performance
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Gage suffered an incredible brain injury Phineas was to survive for another relates directly to the cognitive resources
in 1823, and his accident is one of the 12 years after suffering this devastating available to the individual to monitor
most widely studied medical cases of injury although anecdotally it is reported and select the correct response to resolve
traumatic brain damage. that “Gage was a very changed man, the problem.
Quite simply, Gage remained who frequently lapsed into expressions of Attention is the key ingredient for
conscious after a three foot iron- profanity!” both initiating a shoot response and
damping rod penetrated his head after Gage probably survived and also from disengaging a shooting action
an explosion on a railway excavation. continued to have a relatively ‘normal’ should the subject’s behaviour suddenly
Gage travelled by cart ¾ mile back to life because the traumatic brain injury change. It does seem reasonable to
his lodgings to await the arrival of the that he suffered occurred to the frontal anticipate that, for many firearms
local doctor Edward Williams. Williams lobe of his brain. This area of the brain officers, large visual changes of the
reported the following: “I first noticed is not essential for sustaining critical subject’s movement will have to happen
the wound upon the head before I body function and analytical thinking. before they can override the cognitive
alighted from my carriage, the pulsations Incapacitation is frequently varied with motor program that initiated and
of the brain being very distinct. The top this type of injury and studies of ballistic controls the shoot response from the
of the head appeared somewhat like an brain injury suggest that ‘Instantaneous firearms officer.
inverted funnel, as if some wedge-shaped neutralisation is impossible with non In many circumstances alternative
body had passed from below upward. Mr. C.N.S injuries’. courses of action (cognitive flexibility)
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have to be suppressed to enable goal
Performance relates directed behaviours to emerge, a fact
reported in many scientific studies which
directly to the cognitive identifies that visual attention specifically
narrows towards threat cues.
resources available to Officers must pay attention to visual
the individual cues that signal a sudden change in the
environment in order to inhibit their
current flow of thoughts and actions,
Gage, during the time I was examining So what determines when specifically those actions which may
this wound, was relating the manner in a firearms officer should stop firing? now be no longer appropriate. The
which he was injured to the bystanders. Three specific factors influence how brain needs time to notice a change of
I did not believe Mr. Gage’s statement at well any us can notice change and emphasis and then select and shift to a
that time, but thought he was deceived. divide and then switch our attention: new behaviour.
Mr. Gage persisted in saying that the similarity, practice and task difficulty. For Active Shooter scenarios the
bar went through his head. Mr. G. got What is undisputed within psychology ability of officers to accurately report
up and vomited; the effort of vomiting is the fact that regardless of training, if a back upon event details will certainly
pressed out about half a teacupful of the task becomes increasingly difficult then diminish in relation to the length of time

WRITTEN BY
DAVE BLOCKSIDGE

davidblocksidge@msn.com
1. Wound Ballistics Review, Newgard. K., Journal of International Wound Ballistics
Association 1992 david.blocksidge@met.police.uk
2. Excerpted from Williams’ and Harlow’s statements in: Harlow (1848), pp.390-3; +44 (0)7866 734422
Bigelow (1850), p.16; Harlow (1868), pp.7-10