A CLOSER LOOK AT THE FIGHT OR FLIGHT REFLEX

    Did you know that when you are under high levels of stress (such as you might encounter in a gunfight) you can't close just one eye?  That you won't be able to focus on the front sight of your weapon?  That your modified Weaver position may modify itself right back to an Isosceles position without you realizing it?  All true, and all validated by studies done by sports psychologists, NASA scientists and military fighter pilot researchers.

    In September, 1994 I attended a firearms instructors conference in Texas, where I learned a number of new things related to this topic.  The information was presented by Bruce Siddle of PPCT, Inc., a police training company.  Siddle is a former police officer from the Midwest, and since 1981 he has studied data from all the sports psychology research conducted in the past 125 years, military fighter pilot tests, and NASA experiments pertaining to human performance under stress.  In addition, Siddle has conducted hundreds of his own experiments with police officers using paintball-type practice weapons to evaluate typical reactions to deadly threats.

    Siddle uses the term "Survival Stress Reaction" to describe all the psychological and physical reactions we experience during a life-threatening encounter.  One scientist has defined Survival Stress Reaction this way:  "The process that involves the perception of substantial imbalance between (environmental) demand and response capability, under conditions where demand has important consequences.  So it's a process, in which we perceive (or recognize) an imbalance between a threat and our ability to overcome it (our shooting or defensive tactics skills) where the penalty for failure is great (death or serious bodily injury).  The degree of the imbalance we may perceive depends on a number of factors.  Are we dealing with a deadly threat?  Is it in close proximity to us?  Is there very little time to control the threat?  How confident are we with our shooting and defensive tactics skills?  Have we experienced a threat like this before?

    When we experience a Survival Stress Reaction we suffer decreases in our motor skills and visual performance that can have a significant impact on our ability to defend ourselves.  This process starts with a

    THREAT PERCEPTION

This is the scientific nomenclature for "Oh, shit!"  The resulting anxiety generated by the threat perception causes an

INCREASED HEART RATE AND BREATHING RATE

Typical heart rates during a close-quarters life-threatening event can range from 175-200 beats per minute (BPM) or even higher.  From a resting heart rate of 72 BPM, we can attain these elevated rates in as little as two seconds.  By way of contrast, a well-conditioned athlete can run a 220 yard dash in 32 seconds and get his pulse rate up to only 160 BPM.  The increased heart rate and breathing rate leads to a

DECREASE IN MOTOR SKILLS PERFORMANCE

as blood flow to the ends of the extremities is shunted to the larger muscle groups in the body.  The three types of motor skills relevant to police officers include

1.  FINE MOTOR SKILLS -- skills which are performed by small muscle groups, such as the hands and fingers.  These frequently involve hand/eye coordination.  In the survival skill category, a fine motor skill would include any action that requires precision hand/eye coordination, such as shooting a gun accurately or striking a small target with an impact weapon.  These skills peak between 100-110 BPM, and drop off rapidly at 115 BPM and above.

2.  COMPLEX MOTOR SKILLS -- skills which involve a series of muscle groups in action, requiring coordination and timing.  Complex motor survival skills  include things like a shooting stance that has muscle groups working in different or asymmetrical directions (Weaver or modified Weaver stance, with the strong hand pushing and the support hand pulling against one another), or a takedown that has more than three independent movements from different muscle groups.  These skills peak between 115-145 BPM, and drop off rapidly as the heart rate goes higher.

3.  GROSS MOTOR SKILLS -- skills which involve the action of large muscle or major muscle groups.  An example of a gross motor survival skill would be a simple action such as a straight punch or forward baton strike.  These skills remain effective at 200 BPM and above.

    Important motor skills such as pulling a trigger smoothly without jerking (fine motor skill), or drawing and shooting from the modified Weaver position (complex motor skill) are negatively affected during encounters where the heart rate exceeds the optimum levels described above, and helps to account for decreases in shooting accuracy during a life-threatening event.

     But bear in mind that there is a psychological component to the increase in heart rate as well.  In a training scenario you can run very quickly and get your heart rate up to 180 BPM, but you'll still be able to punch in the numbers on a touch tone phone (fine motor skill), whereas in a real life-threatening situation you would not be able to.  Part of the definition of stress was " . . . where demand has important consequences."  A workout lacks the "important consequences" present during a real life deadly encounter.  Those consequences provide the psychological factor which, when coupled with the increased heart rate, causes the decreases in motor skills performance.

CHANGES IN VISUAL PERFORMANCE

    Survival stress can also cause some important changes in how well our eyes work.  When the heart rate climbs to approximately 175 BPM, the eyeball flattens out from its usual convex shape.  This flattening affects our ability to focus on objects at different distances.  We lose near vision -- the ability to focus on objects within 18-36 inches, such as a front sight on a weapon.  We may be aware of the front sight, we may be able to look at the threat through our front sight, but we cannot get a sharp focus on the front sight, thereby losing precision accuracy under stress.

    We lose depth perception, as well as a great deal of our peripheral vision (the proper term for this phenomenon is "visual narrowing," although the lay person will commonly refer to it as "tunnel vision."  According to NASA research our field of view shrinks to no larger than an 18-inch cone

    We can no longer close one eye for aiming as we do during range practice.  We receive most of our information about the environment and any threats around us through our eyes, and we normally keep them both open to do so (binocular vision).  Closing one eye reduces our visual input by approximately 60 percent, thus slowing our reaction time.  Sound farfetched?  Think back to the last Code 3 pursuit or heavy 418 you were involved in:  You didn't get the urge to close one eye as you pursued the stolen vehicle down the street, or as you drew your baton to stop a violent suspect.

    Shooting a firearm is no different.  Any decrease in visual input can hamper proper threat identification, or the selection of an appropriate technique in response to a particular threat.

SUMMARY

    Optimal survival performance occurs when the heart rate is between 115 and 145 BPM.  When the heart rate exceeds 145 BPM, mental and physical performance deteriorates in the following ways:

            1.  We lose the ability to perform fine or complex motor skills

             2.  We are unable to focus on the front sight, or close one eye for aiming.

            3.  We lose depth perception, and a great deal of our peripheral vision.

    Not all situations we will face on the street as police officers will generate the same level of survival stress.  Good physical conditioning, confidence in our personal abilities, and experience with similar situations in the past can help to keep the heart rate down, and visual and motor skill performance up. 

COPING WITH SURVIVAL STRESS

PRIORITIZE THE THREATS      Deal with the most immediate one first.

VISUALIZE THE PROPER RESPONSE    Visualization prepares us mentally and physically for combat.  Mental rehearsal of what we may have to do if the subject makes a hostile move will decrease anxiety, allow enhanced performance, and helps "tune" the nervous system for combat.

COME TO TERMS WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF DEATH      Create a state of mind which will help to control an increasing heart rate when confronted with danger.  When we encounter a life-threatening situation, we should be thinking, "This is something that I knew could happen to me.  I don't like it, but I'm ready for it."  Siddle also mentions that a strong religious faith factor can decrease anxiety and mental distractions during those situations.

PERFORM "TACTICAL BREATHING"    We may be aware of our our dry mouth, or an increased heart rate and breathing rate while we're enroute to a scene where numerous gun shots have been reported, or waiting for the signal to breach a door during a high-risk entry.  If circumstances permit, try to breathe in for a count of two, hold for a count of two, and exhale for a count of two.  Do this several times to keep the heart rate within 115-145 BPM.