OBSERVATION & DECISION- MAKING FACTORS

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OBSERVATION & DECISION- MAKING FACTORS

SLIDE 70 GTA 9

LIMITATIONS AND CAPABILITIES

The purpose behind gaining an understanding of the physiological and psychological processes of the eye and brain are not to make officers and first responders optometrists or neurologists. The intention is to become better antiquated with the limitations and capabilities of human sensory systems and cognitive processes. Like understanding the equipment on your duty belt, by knowing how the eye and the brain works makes an individual more confident and capable in their abilities and decision making.

The Structure and Functions of the Eye

Understanding the eye is critical as vision is the predominant sense that is used. Not that the other senses aren’t important, but vision is the heavy lifter for human beings. There are many parts and pieces to the eye, but generally speaking there are three main parts to the eye with regard to human behavior, the pupil, the iris, and the slcera.

Pupil. The pupil is the lens of the eye that bends and refracts light as it comes into the eye ball and focuses it on the cones and rods, like a the lens of a camera.

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Iris. The iris is the aperture of the eye. This structure of the eye adjusts based on lighting conditions (photopic/daytime, scotopic/nighttime, and mesopic/dusk & dawn) and is also useful in biometrics for the identification of certain medical conditions and substance use/abuse.

Sclera. The sclera is the white of eye, it gives our eye structure, but it also is over pronounced in human beings to aid in non-verbal communications (kinesics). The sclera is important because at a distance it enables an observer to identify a person’s functional field of view.

FIGURE 1 - THE EYE

The three main parts of the eye are the pupil (lens), the iris (the aperture), and the sclera which aids us in non-verbal communication.

The functional field of view (FFV) is the angular measurement of a person’s sharp, central vision. On average males have about a 7° FFV, where are females have approximately 11°. It is important to note that the functional field of view is fluid, studies have shown that a person’s FFV will narrow when there is a weapon present, or even the perception of a weapon. This is critical as essentially all that we truly see in the world is about a quarter sized are at an arm’s length, which explains exactly why texting and driving is so dangerous. If a person were to look down at their phone while they are driving, then that means they are essentially driving BLIND!

The Structure and Functions of the Brain

The reality is that humans do not see with their eyes, they see with their brains. The eyes are just light sensors. It is our brains that do the heavy lifting when it comes to visual perception. Most people feel that they see like a movie, fluid, and in sequential order, with a beginning, middle, and end. The reality is that our brains chunk visual information in to parts and pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle, and once the brain has enough of the pieces to get an idea of the picture, it says “good enough” and moves on. This is what cognitive reality, or the “theory of close enough” is, where our brain only needs approximately 60-80% of the available information to derive truth. More often than not, this helps us out, however sometimes it can get us into trouble.

FIGURE 2 - THE TRIUNE BRAIN

According to Maclean (1973) the brain is made up of three main parts which develop starting with the brain stem, onto the cerebellum, and finally the cerebrum which is the newest and largest part of the brain. CREDIT: Adobe Stock

To better understand this process it is important to know the structures and their functions within the brain. Like the eye the brain is made up of many parts but the main parts of the triune brain are the brain stem, cerebellum, and the cerebrum (Maclean, 1973).

Brain Stem. The brain stem is the oldest part of our brain, developmentally speaking, and it is responsible for autonomic functions. It regulates our breathing, heartbeat, circadian rhythms, and other autonomic functions.

Cerebellum. The cerebellum maintains control over locomotion (movement), gross motor skills, and balance.

Cerebrum. The cerebrum is the newest and largest part of the brain where the majority of cognitive tasks take place. Within the cerebrum is the pre-frontal cortex and the limbic system reside. The pre-frontal cortex (PFC) is the executive thought center where tasks such as critical thinking, planning, speech, fine motor control, and polyphasic skills (multi-tasking) occurs. The limbic system is the survival brain, it only cares about the body’s personal survival and it made up of three main parts. It consists of the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and amygdalae.

Hippocampus. This hippocampus is where memory resides, specifically where short-term working memory transitions to long-term memory. An easy way to think of it is the hippocampus is the mental Rolodex. Like the card catalog in the library the hippocampus helps to find useful memories for comparison.

Amygdalae. The amygdalae is the body’s alarm, like a built in ADT system. The amygdalae constantly samples the environment using the senses and sends out 10-50K thousand responses for every input that comes in.

Hypothalamus. The hypothalamus regulates our body temperature based on the environment through sweating. It also provides “warning through heat” by preparing the body for fight or flee, hence the phrase “hot under the collar” for when someone is angry and about to fight.

The “Combat Cocktail”

Once the limbic system becomes engaged in survival mode, the human body reacts by producing chemicals to stimulate the rest of the body in preparation for fight or flee. These chemicals are call catecholamines and they come from the amino acid tyrosine. These chemicals consist of adrenalin, serotonin, cortisol, and dopamine. Specifically cortisol is a natural diuretic that prepares the body for flight or flee and speeds up synapse. Dopamine is the reward chemical for the brain and causes repetitive behaviors. Normally, these chemicals are good for the body and it’s survival. However, too much of these chemicals can be problematic. The biggest issue with an over-abundance of these chemicals it could cause catecholamine toxicity. Catecholamine Toxicity or the “Combat Cocktail” is the overwhelming effect that they have on the brain and the resulting impact on decision making. The combat cocktail has a similar effect on the brain that alcohol has. This can slow thinking down and impact decision making. In other words, the combat cocktail can impact a person’s decision making and cause them to either freeze and fail to act when decisive action is called for. Conversely, it could cause a person to go “primitive” in survival mode and over-escalate force or go over-the-top because they are “in fear for their life”.

FIGURE 3 - THE INVERTED “U” HYPOTHESIS

Specifically where stress and performance are concerned, it was found that in the complete absence of stress or too much stress has a deleterious (harmful) impacts. In other words the human body has its limitations to how much stress it can handle. CREDIT: Robert Sapolsky

Context & Relevance

There are other considerations for how our brains physiologically and psychologically process information. Our brains are constantly trying to rapidly make sense of our environment. One way is through context and relevance. The brain compares everything to what is has seen or done via a prototypical or template match.

FIGURE 4 - SUPER GLUE

Without the context of the background super glue is just super glue, it has no real meaning. If you were to find the super glue inside an inmates jail cell does that change the context & relevance of the glue? What are the possible MPCOA and MDCOA implications? CREDIT: Adobe Stock

As Moshe Bar (2004) identified, we “see” objects in the real world in contextual scenes. Meaning that if there is not a background to what we are looking at it becomes harder for our brains to quickly figure out the relevance of the objects in the situation. In other words, we compare knowns with the unknowns and

measure them against the baseline. It is important to remember that baseline is usually fluid and constantly changing.

Urban Masking & Social Camouflage

Individuals with nefarious intent and good guys alike use context and relevance to their advantage for survival. The “bad guys” may not know the terminology, but they certainly know how to use it to their advantage to hide in plain sight. A good example of this is urban masking and social camouflage.

Urban Masking. Urban masking is the tools or the items that are used to hide in plain sight. Like and actor wearing a mask.

Social Camouflage. Social camouflage is the behavior or the things that are said in order to hide in plain sight. *If it appears to be legitimate to the cognitive brain, then it becomes invisible*

FIGURE 5 - FELONY FOREST

The normal baseline the placement of a car air-freshener would be either hanging from the rear-view mirror or on the air vents. In this vehicle there are three that are visible hanging over each of the passenger’s windows. What smells could the driver/passengers be trying to mask? CREDIT: Lynn Westover

Channel Capacity & Sequencing

Functions in the brain can affect our bandwidth and learning, such as channel capacity and sequencing.

Channel Capacity. Channel capacity is the brain’s ability to multi-task or conduct polyphasic skills. Under normal conditions the brain is able to process 7 task +/- 1 or 2, and under extreme stress or boredom it drops to 3. This is exactly why you call 911 for a fire and Stop, Drop, and Roll if you are on fire.

Sequencing. Sequencing is how the brain learns through repetition. The brain dislikes divided attention and likes for information to be spaced out and linear.

Airports are notorious for long security lines. But many of the procedures that are in place are to prevent the TSA screeners from exceeding their channel capacity and fall victim to sequencing. An example of this taking place was the incident at the Atlanta International Airport on November 20, 2021, where Kenny Wells managed to get his firearm past security before discharging it and ultimately flee from the scene. CREDIT: FOX News

Change Blindness & Adaptation

As discussed in situational awareness there are many factors that can impact a person’s ability to perceive their environment accurately. In many cases it is misconstrued that a person “intentionally” drops their pack or doesn’t have the discipline to maintain a high level of situational awareness. However, there are significant processes that take place that attribute to unintentional consequences.

Change Blindness. Change blindness is a phenomenon that occurs within the brain where it fails to register slow, subtle change. A way to better understand this phenomenon is the spider and the fly. When a fly is buzzing around your house it immediately grabs your attention because of the light, motion, edges that its movement and sound causes. Compare that to the spider that slowly builds its web in the doorway of your home. You may walk in and out several times as it builds its web, but you don’t notice it until you walk through the completed web.

Adaptation. Adaptation is how the brain deals with a constantly changing environment. It is a diminishing sensory response that the brain uses to “tune out” what it deems as “non-essential” information. A good example of this is the Glade air freshener commercials where they talk about becoming “nose blind” to different smells. Where the problem lies is that change blindness and adaptation combined is where complacency comes from in the cognitive brain.