Neuroscience

These are the first responder situational awareness and decision making issues and opportunities related to neuroscience.

Every EMS Call Starts with Scene Safety

“Scene Safe, BSI.” These words have been uttered by every first responder who has ever received medical training. In fact, any responder who has performed a practical exercise for certification knows the first two mandatory skills to be completed on the evaluation checklist are: (1) Ensure the scene is safe before entering; and (2) Don […]

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Episode197 | Interview with Jason Bonney – Part 2

This episode is part two of a two-part interview with Assistant Chief Jason Bonney from the Central Jackson Fire Protection District.  Length: 53 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen       __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check out the

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Episode 196 | Interview with Jason Bonney – Part 1

This episode is part one of a two-part interview with Assistant Chief Jason Bonney from the Central Jackson Fire Protection District.  Length: 53 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen       __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check out the

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Episode 195 | Crisis Response Journal Interview – Part 2

This episode is part two of an interview with Christo Motz, a board member for the Crisis Response Journal.  Length: 61 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen to the full episode       __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check

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Episode 194 | Crisis Response Journal Interview – Part 1

This episode is part one of a two-part interview with Christo Motz, a board member for the Crisis Response Journal.  Length: 59 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen to the full episode   __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check out

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Developing Situational Awareness in Novice Responders

One of the most frequent questions I get asked during the Mental Management of Emergencies and Fifty Ways to Kill a First Responder programs is: How can a novice responder develop expert knowledge when the number of fires are going down? It’s a great question and a great concern because so much of situational awareness

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Creatures of Habit

Perhaps you’ve heard it said that we are creatures of habit. The more we do something over and over again, the more likely that behavior will be turned into a habit. But what happens in the mystical world of the brain when a behavior becomes a habit? Is your behavior under stress predictable? Rational? Understandable?

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The Myth of Multitasking and Situational Awareness

Think you’re good at multitasking? If so, you are just fooling yourself. Or, perhaps more aptly stated, your brain is fooling you. Multitasking is simply a way for us to be tricked into doing a whole bunch of things, poorly, all at the same time. When it comes to managing attention, the human brain cannot

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Confabulation: It Sounds Better Than Lying

Confabulation may sound better than lying, but it’s no less dangerous. One of the most amazing demonstrations I do during my situational awareness programs is to show how a person, when placed under stress, will lie. Only in the world of neuroscience, we don’t call it lying, we call it confabulation. You won’t do it

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Anchoring Bias as a Barrier to Situational Awareness

There are over 100 cognitive biases that can impact situational awareness, and subsequently, decision making. Many of these biases are discussed during the Mental Management of Emergencies and Flawed Situational Awareness programs because it is important for responders to understand that we may possess a bias without knowing it and without knowing the impact of

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