Positive Effects of Imagery on Police Officers' Shooting Performance under Threat

Abstract

We investigated the effects of imagery on police officers' shooting performance under threat. To this end, 66 officers executed a realistic shooting exercise against an opponent that initially did not shoot back with painful coloured-soap cartridges (low-threat condition) followed by a condition in which he did [high-threat (HT) condition]. In between conditions, participants performed an imagery intervention: one group imagined 'successful shot execution' and one imagined 'successful shot execution under threat, including the accompanying emotions'; a control group received no imagery intervention. Although for the control group shot accuracy was significantly lower in the HT condition than under low-threat conditions, both imagery groups were able to maintain their shot accuracy in the HT condition, despite increased levels of anxiety. It is concluded that focusing on successful shot execution is pivotal, whereas adding emotional statements does not seem to have an additional positive effect.

A systematic review of the current evidence regarding interventions for anxiety, PTSD, sleepiness and fatigue in the law enforcement workplace

“…Nieuwenhuys et al 19 ) , postulated that more anxious police officers are more inclined to use their fire arm and make a greater number of incorrect shooting decisions, and go on to conclude that the impact of a threat on shooting decisions is robust and may be difficult to overcome within the limits of available practice paradigms. Furthermore, Colin et al 24 ) , similarly investigated shooting performance; however they utilised an imagery intervention (that asked officers to either imagine successful shot execution, or successful shot execution under threat and any accompanying emotions) between the low threat and high threat trials. Analysis indicated that both imagery groups maintained their shot accuracy in high anxiety situations compared to the control group.…”

Brief Mental Skills Training Improves Memory and Performance in High Stress Police Cadet Training

“…Our reasoning was that control of breathing (as trained in the experimental sessions) would indirectly influence heart rate, thereby slowing the rate of beat per/minute increases between measures for the experimental group. Accepting the null in this case, however, is not too surprising; others (e.g., Colin et al, 2013) have also found significant differences in performance measures without a corresponding change or difference in heart rate. Additionally, cadets in the control group reported using a technique to control breathing (as previously taught in the academy), which may have hidden any potential group differences.…”

“…For example, Arnetz et al, (2008) were able to show that psychological training in skills such as arousal control and performance-enhancing imagery could moderate heart rate and improve performance in a high stress police training scenario. Other studies have demonstrated specific police skill effects such as improved shot performance with decreased subjective stress and anxiety (Whetstone, 1996;Shipley & Baranski, 2002;Colin, et al, 2013). The current study seeks to contribute to this growing body of evidence.…”

Sitting duck or scaredy‐cat? Effects of shot execution strategy on anxiety and police officers’ shooting performance under high threat

“…To indicate the extent to which executing the SF and FS strategy under high threat led to acute feelings of anxiety, directly after the experiment, participants reported how anxious they had felt while executing the respective strategies. In line with previous studies (e.g., Colin, Nieuwenhuys, Visser, & Oudejans, ; Nibbeling, Oudejans, Ubink, & Daanen, ; Nieuwenhuys & Oudejans, , ) – which indicated that self‐report measures of anxiety show good discriminatory validity and often reflect physiological responses to threat (also when conditions are randomized across trials; e.g., Gladwin, Hashemi, Van Ast, & Roelofs, ) – this was carried out using a 10 cm long visual analogue scale (ranging from ‘not anxious at all’ to ‘extremely anxious’ ) called the ‘anxiety thermometer’ (Houtman & Bakker, ). As reported by Houtman and Bakker, concurrent validity and test–retest reliability of the anxiety thermometer are fair, with correlation coefficients ranging between .60 and .78.…”