News Tip: Decision to Shoot or Not is in Brain, Not Hands

Duke cognitive psychologist Adam Biggs has been studying the split-second decision a person with a gun makes when confronted with a stranger in a potentially dangerous situation. 

His latest study finds that the risk of mistaken shootings, like the one for which an NYPD officer was indicted yesterday, might be predicted and in some cases improved by training.

Adam BiggsVisiting Scholar, Duke Universityadam.biggs@duke.edu

Biggs has recently used simulated environments to study how cognitive training can improve shooting performance and reduce civilian casualties. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/were-only-human/itchy...

Quote: "Shooting a firearm involves a cascade of cognitive processes. We think we can link failures in shooting to specific cognitive abilities. Behavior starts in the brain, and so does the ability to stop any behavior."

"Eventually, our study results might be useful in designing new ways to identify people who might accidentally shoot civilians before those individuals are sent into the field; or, training programs could be designed to help reduce the likelihood of a civilian casualty being inflicted by military or law enforcement personnel."

Duke experts on a variety of other topics can be found at http://newsoffice.duke.edu/resources-media/faculty-experts.