Identifying psychophysiological indices of expert vs. novice performance in deadly force judgment and decision making

Abstract

Objective: To demonstrate that psychophysiology may have applications for objective assessment of expertise development in deadly force judgment and decision making (DFJDM).Background: Modern training techniques focus on improving decision-making skills with participative assessment between trainees and subject matter experts primarily through subjective observation. Objective metrics need to be developed. The current proof of concept study explored the potential for psychophysiological metrics in deadly force judgment contexts.Method: Twenty-four participants (novice, expert) were recruited. All wore a wireless Electroencephalography (EEG) device to collect psychophysiological data during high-fidelity simulated deadly force judgment and decision-making simulations using a modified Glock firearm. Participants were exposed to 27 video scenarios, one-third of which would have justified use of deadly force. Pass/fail was determined by whether the participant used deadly force appropriately.Results: Experts had a significantly higher pass rate compared to novices (p < 0.05). Multiple metrics were shown to distinguish novices from experts. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that psychophysiological variables are able to explain 72% of the variability in expert performance, but only 37% in novices. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) using psychophysiological metrics was able to discern between experts and novices with 72.6% accuracy.Conclusion: While limited due to small sample size, the results suggest that psychophysiology may be developed for use as an objective measure of expertise in DFDJM. Specifically, discriminant function measures may have the potential to objectively identify expert skill acquisition.Application: Psychophysiological metrics may create a performance model with the potential to optimize simulator-based DFJDM training. These performance models could be used for trainee feedback, and/or by the instructor to assess performance objectively.

The Reverse Racism Effect

“…The physiological data collected from participants suggest that they were highly immersed in the simulations, adding to our argument that this testing method is more externally valid than seated button-pressing designs, and that our scenarios accurately represent deadly encounters on the street. This notion is supported by evidence from the research literature on the validity of simulation as an accurate measure of use of deadly force (Johnson et al, 2014;Winser et al, 2014).…”

Redundant deliberation about negative consequences: Decision inertia in emergency responders.

“…Expertise has also been found to have a psychophysiological basis as expert Police officers indicated different responses (e.g. lower heart rate) to novices during a simulated shooting task (Johnson, Stone, Miranda, Vila, James, James, Rubio & Berka, 2014). A greater understanding of how adaptive flexibility develops in experienced commanders would be useful in order to inform command-level training.…”

Building a Cognitive Readiness for Violent Police–Citizen Encounters: A Task Analysis

“…The key constructs of cognitive readiness offered by O'Neil et al () are knowledge, skills, and attributes. More specifically, Johnson et al () state that “deadly force judgment and decision‐making is associated with skills related to the following constructs: decision‐making, situational awareness, stimuli relevance, general cognitive functioning, engagement/attention, and cognitive workload” (p. 10). Deficiencies in one or more of these features, specifically in the context of a violent police–citizen encounter, can result in devastating consequences to the officer, suspect, organization, and the community.…”

“…The key constructs of cognitive readiness offered by O'Neil et al (2014) are knowledge, skills, and attributes. More specifically, Johnson et al (2014) state that "deadly force judgment and decision-making is associated with Researchers support the notion that elements of cognitive readiness such as critical thinking and decision making can be taught, but research also suggests that high levels of training are needed to successfully adapt to unanticipated, rapidly changing, or chaotic highstress conditions. DOI: 10.1002/piq Performance Improvement Quarterly skills related to the following constructs: decision-making, situational awareness, stimuli relevance, general cognitive functioning, engagement/ attention, and cognitive workload" (p. 10).…”