Final Report : STIR : Assessing and Training Response Inhibition

Number of Papers published in peer-reviewed journals: Number of Papers published in non peer-reviewed journals: Final Report: STIR: Assessing and Training Response Inhibition Abilities Report Title Shooting a firearm involves a complex series of actions, and each action depends on a distinct cognitive process (e.g., finding targets involves visual search, aiming involves perceptual judgments of distance and motion). Examining these action-cognition links provides a valuable tool for revealing how cognitive mechanisms interact with one another in addition to offering new avenues for enhancing shooting performance and safety. The present study established a direct relationship between a critical shooting error, civilian casualties, and a particular cognitive ability, response inhibition. Response inhibition abilities significantly correlated with civilian casualties in a shooting simulation, and response inhibition training—but not a control form of cognition training—reduced civilian casualties. Survey and behavioral measures revealed that civilian casualties were not related to motor impulsivity (i.e., an itchy trigger finger), but rather to an individual’s ability to withhold an initiated response (i.e., an itchy brain). This study demonstrated successful response inhibition training and “far transfer”1,2 learning, where individuals improved on a task only conceptually related to the training. Likewise, the study demonstrated the rich potential of developing specific forms of cognitive training to improve shooting performance for military and law enforcement personnel. (a) Papers published in peer-reviewed journals (N/A for none) Enter List of papers submitted or published that acknowledge ARO support from the start of the project to the date of this printing. List the papers, including journal references, in the following categories: (b) Papers published in non-peer-reviewed journals (N/A for none) (c) Presentations Received Paper