Neuroscience Archives - Situational Awareness Matters!™

EMDR Treatment for First Responders: Interview with Dr. Deborah Korn – 393

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Article, Attitude, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Confusion, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Fatigue, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Illness, Intuition, Long-Term Memory, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Pattern Matching, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Physical Fitness, Prediction, Preoccupation, Pressure, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Workload Management / By Rich Gasaway

This episode is provides first responders a look into a treatment option for Post Traumatic Event Brain Injuries called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Dr. Deborah Korn, PsyD, an internationally renowned pioneer and expert in EMDR Therapy and author of the book Every Memory Deserves Respect: EMDR the Proven Trauma Therapy with the …

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Complacency: A Lesson Worth Sharing – The Eric Wappel Story – 390

Leave a Comment / Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Biases, Bravado, Communications, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Ego, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Leadership, Meta Awareness, Mindfulness, Mission, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Teamwork, Training / By Rich Gasaway

Captain Eric Wappel shares a tale of complacency and how he faced it head-on with his department. On January 3, 2022, the North Judson – Wayne Township Fire Department was dispatched for the second time to the same residence for a “furnace smoking.” Captain Eric Wappel wasn’t available for the first response, but responded to …

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The Violence Project: How to stop a mass shooting epidemic. An interview with Dr. James Densley – 389

This episode is an interview is with Dr. James Densley, discussing his book: The Violence Project: How to stop a mass shooting epidemic. Dr. James Densley is Professor and Department Chair of Criminal Justice at Metro State University, part of the Minnesota State system. He is also co-founder of The Violence Project Research Center, best …

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Sirencide: The Impact of Acute Stress in Emergency Vehicle Crashes – 388

Leave a Comment / Article, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Ego, Equipment, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Preoccupation, Pressure, Radios, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Technology / By Rich Gasaway

This interview is with Dr. Dusty Lambert, a firefighter who completed his doctoral degree while researching the impact of acute stress in emergency vehicle crashes. Emergency services provide an invaluable service to communities and cities around the world. Research has shown these professionals encounter significant acute psychological stress throughout their work shifts. Acute stress has …

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Active Shooter Part 2 – Advice for Fire and EMS

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Attitude, Building Construction, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Decision Making, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Intuition, Judgment, Leadership, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Training, Vigilance / By Rich Gasaway

When I was in the police academy and went through Active Shooter training it was designed solely for police officers. There was never a mention of EMS or fire department response and how they could assist in these situations. It took approximately 8 years into my career until I went to a training that …

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Active Shooter Part 1 – Advice for Law Enforcement

1 Comment / Accountability, Article, Attitude, Building Construction, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Decision Making, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Intuition, Judgment, Leadership, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Training, Vigilance / By Rich Gasaway

My students often ask me: “Mr. Moldenhauer, what’s the worst call cops could ever go on?” My response is always the same, an active shooter call. I have had my share of terrible calls in my career that will stay with me forever (i.e. suicides, child deaths, and fatal car accidents just to name …

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Hands-Free Driving Laws are a Bad Idea

Leave a Comment / Article, Attention Management, Cognitive Memory, Confusion, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Multitasking, Neuroscience, Overload, Perception, Preoccupation, Risk, Safety, Selective Listening, Situational awareness / By Rich Gasaway

Before you get too upset and refuse to read this article, I’ll ask you to give me just two minutes to explain the situational awareness lesson behind this statement. The first premise is: We must acknowledge (and accept) that it is easy for drivers to get distracted and have their situational awareness impacted while talking …

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Simulations Improve Situational Awareness – SAM 371

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Competency, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Intuition, Judgment, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Pattern Matching, Pre Arrival Lens, Prediction, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Simulation, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Technology, Training, Workload Management, Worksheets / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we discuss how simulations can improve situational awareness. Your highest level of situational awareness is formed when you are able to make accurate predictions about future events. In neuroscience, this is called projection and it simply means you are able to predict, or project, the future events. This is accomplished through mental …

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How Expectations Influence Situational Awareness – SAM 370

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Cognitive Memory, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Intuition, Judgment, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Tacit Knowledge / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we discuss how the role expectations play in helping developing situational awareness and influencing decision making. Your highest level of situational awareness is formed when you are able to make accurate predictions about future events. In neuroscience, this is called projection and it simply means you are able to predict, or …

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Complacency – SAM 369

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attitude, Bravado, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Ego, Error Creep, Expectations, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Goals, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Invincible, Judgment, Leadership, Mind Drift, Mindfulness, Mission, Mission Myopia, Neuroscience, Over Confident, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Task Fixation, Vigilance, Workload Management / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we preview the complacency chapter from the book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Complacency is a dangerous affliction and a very challenging barrier to situational awareness for workers in high-risk environments. When a worker becomes complacent they let their guard down. What does that mean? It’s a cliché …

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