Neuroscience Archives - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Context Dependent Learning

Leave a Comment / Article, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, Training / Rich Gasaway

As public safety providers, we could make a fundamental improvement in developing situational awareness by looking at how we train responders. [tweet this] There are some valuable lessons from brain science that can help you improve the design of your program. One is called context dependent learning. It has been validated through numerous studies and […]

Context Dependent Learning Read More »

Imagination Can Influence Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Confabulation, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

If I were to tell you that on an emergency scene it is possible for you to use X-Ray vision, you’d probably think I’ve been watching too many Superman movies. But it is possible for you to look right through a solid object on an emergency scene and see what’s beyond it. Seriously! Read on…

Imagination Can Influence Situational Awareness Read More »

Flawed Expectations of Personnel Can Impact Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Anger, Article, Attention Management, Checklists, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Leadership, Neuroscience, Risk Assessment, Safety, Situational awareness, Tacit Knowledge, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

You develop situational awareness by using your senses to capture information (Level 1 situational awareness). Those clues and cues are then processed into understanding (Level 2 situational awareness). Once you understand what is happening, you can then make predictions of future events (Level 3 situational awareness). This article focuses on the third level of situational

Flawed Expectations of Personnel Can Impact Situational Awareness Read More »

How We Decide … Anything

Leave a Comment / Article, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

How you decide to do something is a complex process that involves multiple brain regions. Are decisions made with the rational brain or the intuitive brain? The answer, surprisingly, is both. Rational judgment allows you to process facts and data essential to good decision making. Intuition allows you to tap into past training and experiences

How We Decide … Anything Read More »

The Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance – 406

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Attention Management, Attitude, Bravado, Command Support, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Ego, Emotions, Fatigue, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Gut Feeling, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Illness, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Physical Fitness, Prediction, Preoccupation, Pressure, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Training, understaffing, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

In this interview, Dr. Gasaway talks with Jeff Dill about the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance and their work to reduce firefighter suicides. Description In 2010, Jeff Dill founded Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (FBHA). And since 2021, Jeff has served full time as the Behavioral Health Administrator for Las Vegas Fire & Rescue

The Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance – 406 Read More »

The Minnesota Hometown Heroes Assistance Program – 405

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attitude, Bravado, Close Call, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Ego, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Fatigue, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Gut Feeling, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Illness, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Optimism, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Physical Fitness, Prediction, Preoccupation, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Training, Understanding, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this interview, Dr. Gasaway talks with George Esbensen, President of the Minnesota Firefighter Initiative (MnFIRE) about the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program. During his 32 years in the fire service, George Esbensen served in many roles, from firefighter to chief. Today, he volunteers as Board President of the Minnesota Firefighter Initiative (MnFIRE),

The Minnesota Hometown Heroes Assistance Program – 405 Read More »

The 400th Episode Anniversary of the SAMatters Show – 400

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Auditory exclusion, Automatic Action, Automatic Action, Automation, Benchmarks, Biases, Bravado, Building Construction, Checklists, Close Call, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Comprehension, Confabulation, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Ego, Emotions, Equipment, Error Creep, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Fatigue, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Goals, Gut Feeling, Habits, Hallucinations, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Illness, Incompetence, Independent Goal Setting - Freelancing, Information overload, Insubordination, Interruptions, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Live Events, Long-Term Memory, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mental Models, Meta Awareness, Mind Drift, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Motion Induced Blindness, Multitasking, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Neuroscience, News, Online Classes, Optimism, Over Confident, Over Staffing, Overload, Overwhelm, PAR, Pattern Matching, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Pre Arrival Lens, Prediction, Preoccupation, Pressure, Progress Reports, Questions & Answers, Radios, Repetition, Response Time Delays, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Short Term Memory, Simulation, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Technology, Testimonials, Time Distortion, Training, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Under Confident, understaffing, Understanding, Vigilance, Virtual Training, Weather, Workload Management, Worksheets / Rich Gasaway

Dr. Gasaway, along with some special guests, celebrates the milestone of reaching our 400thepisode. The Situational Awareness Matters Show debuted on May 12, 2014. This episode highlights the journey Dr. Gasaway has taken to educate first responders about situational awareness and high-risk decision making. About the Host Richard B. Gasaway, PhD, CSP

The 400th Episode Anniversary of the SAMatters Show – 400 Read More »

Tactical Decision Games – An Interview with Phil Jose – 398

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Automatic Action, Cognitive Memory, Command Support, Competency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Intuition, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Mindfulness, Mission, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Simulation, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Technology, Training / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, Dr. Gasaway talks with Phil Jose about tactical decision games. Phil Jose, Deputy Chief, (Ret.), 30 years in Seattle Fire Department. He chaired the SOG and PIA committees. Chief of the Year 2013. FDIC Instructor 19 years with the highest attended class in 2023: The Art of Reading Smoke. FDIC 2008

Tactical Decision Games – An Interview with Phil Jose – 398 Read More »

Dyslexia in the Fire Service: The Burt Clark Story – 396

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Biases, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Competency, Confusion, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Disoriented, Emotions, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Incompetence, Information overload, Intuition, Judgment, Leadership, Long-Term Memory, Lost Focus, Mind Drift, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Pattern Matching, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Short Term Memory, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Task Saturation, Under Confident, understaffing, Understanding, Vigilance, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, Dr. Gasaway talks with Dr. Burton Clark on the topic of Dyslexia in the fire service. Dr. Burton A. Clark, EFO has been in the fire service for 53 years. He’s known he was a Dyslexic since early childhood and is passionate about reducing the stigma around firefighters with Dyslexia. Dr. Clark was

Dyslexia in the Fire Service: The Burt Clark Story – 396 Read More »

The SAMatters Online Academy – An interview with Ed Mann – 395

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 / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, Dr. Gasaway is interviewed by Ed Mann, Director of Training and Education for Provident Insurance about the SAMatters Online Academy and why this training is so important for first responders. Ed Mann, Director of Training and Education for Provident Insurance interviewed Dr. Gasaway on the Provident Podcast. This episode is a

The SAMatters Online Academy – An interview with Ed Mann – 395 Read More »