Brain training may help avoid civilian casualties

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-07/du-btm071615.php

Public Release: 16-Jul-2015
Duke University

Although firing a gun seems like one action, it is made up of many smaller decisions and movements that require coordination between multiple brain areas.

The sudden decision to not shoot, called 'response inhibition,' is critical when someone innocent comes into the line of fire. That is what soldiers in war experience when they're about to pull the trigger and then realize that their target is a civilian or an ally. Or when a law enforcement officer realizes that a person they thought was armed and dangerous is actually an innocent bystander.

A new Duke study exploring the causes of civilian shooting casualties suggests that mistakes arise from problems with attention -- an "itchy brain," the authors say -- rather than an "itchy trigger finger."

The findings, published online in Psychological Science, imply that the tendency to squeeze the trigger in error can not only be predicted with cognitive tests but can also be overcome by training in response inhibition.

"Shooting a firearm is a complex activity, and when you couple that action with the conditions encountered by military and law enforcement personnel, firearms training can be even more complicated," said Adam Biggs, a visiting scholar at Duke's Center for Cognitive Neuroscience.

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