The Risk of Being Shot At: Stress, Cortisol Secretion, and Their Impact on Memory and Perceived Learning During Reality- Based Practice for Armed Officers

A field experiment was organized during a handgun shooting workshop for armed officers (N 36). In-depth stress analyses involved anticipatory distress, subjective stress, and salivary cortisol reactivity triggered by reality-based handgun shooting practice and, more specifically, by being in an uncontrollable situation with the risk of being shot at. Subsequently, the study examined to what extent exposure to reality-based stress affected working memory performances and self-perceived active learning. As expected, the risk of being shot at caused more anticipatory distress, subjective stress, and increasingly triggered cortisol secretion. Further results showed that, although stress endurance deteriorated working memory performance, participants in the high-realism group simultaneously self-perceivably learned more (i.e., acquired task-relevant

[1]  J. van Ruysseveldt,et al.  High-intensity stress elicits robust cortisol increases, and impairs working memory and visuo-spatial declarative memory in Special Forces candidates: A field experiment , 2010, Stress.

[2]  J. Colquitt,et al.  Toward an integrative theory of training motivation: a meta-analytic path analysis of 20 years of research. , 2000, The Journal of applied psychology.

[3]  S. Gosling,et al.  A very brief measure of the Big-Five personality domains , 2003 .

[4]  Heather M. Kleider,et al.  Aggressive shooting behavior: How working memory and threat influence shoot decisions , 2009 .

[5]  David P. MacKinnon,et al.  Current Directions in Mediation Analysis , 2009, Current directions in psychological science.

[6]  Charles A Morgan,et al.  Neuropeptide-Y, cortisol, and subjective distress in humans exposed to acute stress: replication and extension of previous report , 2002, Biological Psychiatry.

[7]  Oliver T. Wolf,et al.  Stress and memory in humans: Twelve years of progress? , 2009, Brain Research.

[8]  Jeffrey T. Steedle,et al.  Working memory, fluid intelligence, and science learning , 2006 .

[9]  Tricia Z. King,et al.  Shooting behaviour: How working memory and negative emotionality influence police officer shoot decisions , 2009 .

[10]  Jared P Reis,et al.  Stressful military training: endocrine reactivity, performance, and psychological impact. , 2007, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[11]  Scott R Millis,et al.  Detecting Incomplete Effort with Digit Span from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Third Edition , 2006, The Clinical neuropsychologist.

[12]  J. Greenberg,et al.  The Causes and Consequences of a Need for Self-Esteem: A Terror Management Theory , 1986 .

[13]  Jan Streumer,et al.  Work-related learning , 2006 .

[14]  A. Baddeley.  Working memory: looking back and looking forward , 2003, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[15]  A. Martens,et al.  Two Decades of Terror Management Theory: A Meta-Analysis of Mortality Salience Research , 2010, Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

[16]  Charles A Morgan,et al.  Hormone profiles in humans experiencing military survival training , 2000, Biological Psychiatry.

[17]  Michael D. White,et al.  Identifying Good Cops Early , 2008 .

[18]  Edward Awh,et al.  The bouncer in the brain , 2008, Nature Neuroscience.

[19]  Stefan Wüst,et al.  Why do we respond so differently? Reviewing determinants of human salivary cortisol responses to challenge , 2009, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[20]  Joseph Soeters,et al.  Predicting performance under acute stress: The role of individual characteristics , 2011 .

[21]  Roy F. Baumeister,et al.  Public Self and Private Self , 2011 .

[22]  T. Smeets.  Acute stress impairs memory retrieval independent of time of day , 2011, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[23]  R. Oudejans,et al.  Reality-based practice under pressure improves handgun shooting performance of police officers , 2008, Ergonomics.

[24]  Gregory B. Morrison,et al.  Police handgun qualification: practical measure or aimless activity? , 1998 .

[25]  R. Hogan,et al.  Personality psychology in the workplace , 2001 .

[26]  A. Munck.  Corticosteroids and Stress , 2007 .

[27]  Julian Elliott,et al.  The working memory rating scale: A classroom-based behavioral assessment of working memory , 2009 .

[28]  M. Smith,et al.  Training in Organizations , 1991 .

[29]  P. Hancock,et al.  Human Mental Workload , 1988 .

[30]  G. Fink.  ENCYCLOPEDIA OF STRESS , 2000, Experimental Neurology.

[31]  A. Kruglanski,et al.  Individual differences in need for cognitive closure. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[32]  C. Kirschbaum,et al.  Salivary cortisol in psychoneuroendocrine research: Recent developments and applications , 1994, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[33]  Eduardo Salas,et al.  Stress and human performance , 1996 .

[34]  Gregory Schraw,et al.  The influence of self-efficacy and working memory capacity on problem solving efficiency , 2009 .

[35]  J D Fletcher,et al.  Education and Training Technology in the Military , 2009, Science.

[36]  S. Dickerson,et al.  Acute stressors and cortisol responses: a theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. , 2004, Psychological bulletin.

[37]  Steven M. Southwick,et al.  Stress-Induced Deficits in Working Memory and Visuo-Constructive Abilities in Special Operations Soldiers , 2006, Biological Psychiatry.

[38]  Giora Keinan,et al.  Training effective performance under stress: Queries, dilemmas, and possible solutions. , 1996 .

[39]  L. Luecken,et al.  Handbook of Physiological Research Methods in Health Psychology , 2007 .

[40]  L. Festinger,et al.  A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance , 2017 .

[41]  A. Kruglanski,et al.  Motivated closing of the mind: "seizing" and "freezing". , 1996, Psychological review.

[42]  Tracy Packiam Alloway,et al.  How does working memory work in the classroom , 2006 .

[43]  R. Delahaij,et al.  Coping under acute stress: The role of person characteristics , 2010 .

[44]  P. Warr.  Decision latitude, job demands, and employee well-being , 1990 .

[45]  M. Dehn.  Working Memory and Academic Learning: Assessment and Intervention , 2008 .

[46]  A. Roets,et al.  Separating Ability From Need: Clarifying the Dimensional Structure of the Need for Closure Scale , 2007, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[47]  J. Downing,et al.  Learning strategies, learning anxiety and knowledge acquisition. , 2000, British journal of psychology.

[48]  S. Dickerson,et al.  Negative social evaluation, but not mere social presence, elicits cortisol responses to a laboratory stressor task. , 2008, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[49]  C. Kirschbaum,et al.  Salivary cortisol in psychobiological research: an overview. , 1989, Neuropsychobiology.

[50]  N. Nicolson.  Measurement of cortisol. , 2007 .

[51]  Robert Karasek,et al.  Healthy Work : Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life , 1990 .

[52]  Oliver T. Wolf,et al.  Psychosocial stress induces working memory impairments in an n-back paradigm , 2008, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[53]  R. Flin.  Selecting the right stuff: Personality and high-reliability occupations. , 2001 .

[54]  C. S. Morris,et al.  Motivational Effects of Adding Context Relevant Stress in PC-Based Game Training , 2004 .

[55]  B. Roozendaal,et al.  Glucocorticoids and the regulation of memory in health and disease , 2009, Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology.

[56]  R. Engle,et al.  The nature of individual differences in working memory capacity: active maintenance in primary memory and controlled search from secondary memory. , 2007, Psychological review.

[57]  R. Oudejans,et al.  Effects of anxiety on handgun shooting behavior of police officers: a pilot study , 2010, Anxiety, stress, and coping.

[58]  A. J. Doornbos,et al.  Learning Processes and Outcomes at the Workplace: a Qualitative Research Study , 2006 .

[59]  Joseph V. Baranski,et al.  Police Officer Performance Under Stress: A Pilot Study on the Effects of Visuo-Motor Behavior Rehearsal , 2002 .

[60]  Irwin L. Goldstein,et al.  Training in Organizations , 2001 .

[61]  C. A. Morgan,et al.  Relationship Among Plasma Cortisol, Catecholamines, Neuropeptide Y, and Human Performance During Exposure to Uncontrollable Stress , 2001, Psychosomatic medicine.

[62]  U. Ehlert,et al.  Persistent effects of cognitive-behavioral stress management on cortisol responses to acute stress in healthy subjects—A randomized controlled trial , 2006, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[63]  J. N. Streumer,et al.  The World Of Work-Related Learning , 2006 .

[64]  Susana Rubio,et al.  Evaluation of Subjective Mental Workload: A Comparison of SWAT, NASA‐TLX, and Workload Profile Methods , 2004 .

[65]  J. Medina.  Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School , 2008 .

[66]  Judith M. Orasanu,et al.  Stress and military performance. , 1996 .

[67]  Marian Joëls,et al.  Learning under stress: how does it work? , 2006, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[68]  Christopher D. Wickens,et al.  An introduction to human factors engineering , 1997 .

[69]  P. Bartone,et al.  Psychological Hardiness Predicts Success in US Army Special Forces Candidates , 2008 .