At the outset, gentle reader, let me reassure you: Your Humble Correspondent has not lost his marbles; this is a serious blog with a serious topic, I promise.
Long time readers of this blog have probably figured out by now that I enjoy movies and television. One of the shows that my son and I really get a charge out of is MythBusters. Thanks to Netflix, we were recently watching MythBusters Collection 9, Episode 12, entitled Operation Valkyrie. In it, the hosts of the show, Adam and Jamie, looked into an attempt to assassinate Hitler while their colleagues Kari, Grant, and Tory investigated whether it is possible to slap sense into someone. It was this second topic that really caught my eye.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept, the idea of “slapping sense into someone” comes from the concept that if you have someone who is really stressed out, slapping their face can bring them back to reality and help them to focus on the situation at hand. It was a familiar scene from old-school Hollywood, and the MythBusters team set out to see if there was any truth in the notion that the shock and the sting of a slap could help a person to concentrate and perform better.
They consulted a trauma expert, who said, in effect that a slap would stimulate epinephrine production, resulting in increased blood flow to vital organs and the brain for quick decision making, dilation of the eyes for clear and increased vision, and overall preparation of the body for fight or flight. The trauma expert further suggested that one of the ways to stress the body to for the purpose of the experiment would be to subject the individual to hypothermia.
To eliminate one variable, the team created a face slapping robot that would administer uniform slaps to the test participants. They also devised four one-minute tasks — a shooting gallery, a pattern replication test, a quickfire math quiz, and a challenge to catch dropped objects — to test reflexes, calculation skills, coordination, and visual and communication skills.
Grant, one of the team members, ran through the tests to establish a baseline performance. Then they stuck him in a refrigerated trailer for half an hour to drop his body temperature and had him run the tests again to test his performance while impaired. Finally, they cooled Grant again, subjected him to the face slapping robot, and had him run the tests yet again to see if slapping an impaired person did anything to improve performance.
The results were enlightening. Throughout the tests, Grant’s best performance came in the baseline, his worst during the impaired test, and his performance after slapping was better than impaired but worse than the baseline. For example, in the shooting gallery, he hit 5 out of 6 targets in the baseline, only 3 out of 6 impaired, but returned to 5 out of 6 when slapped.
The MythBusters crew decided to push the concept even farther by putting two of the team members through a Hogan’s alley-style firing range where the object is to shoot the bad guys and to not shoot the good guys. Kari and Tory would each shoot a baseline performance, then shoot another score while impaired by lack of sleep, hunger, and cold, and then yet another score after being slapped while they were tired, hungry, and cold.
Once again, the results were illuminating: Kari score 96% baseline; only 43% impaired; but 72% after slapping while impaired. Tory shot 97% baseline; 87% impaired; and 96% impaired after slapping.
So what does this mean for readers of this blog? Simply this: if you find yourself in a situation where your performance is impaired – for example, if you are cold, tired, and hungry – and you need to make a critical shot (perhaps to get food in survival situation), giving yourself a slap in the face could help you improve your performance. I recall a TV commercial from some years ago where a gentleman slaps aftershave on his own face and then says: “Thanks, I needed that!”
The show MythBusters frequently touches on topics that involve shooting, and I find it informative and entertaining. Remember that old gag from the western movies where a bullet cleans the Stetson off a cowboy’s head? The MythBusters proved it was impossible. I am soooo disappointed!
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
Jajaja that is interesting, did anyone try to drive while sleepy? wich techniques did you use to get more consious, to battle with the sleepiness? i tried the slapping technique one or two times for this.
As for the mithbusters experiment, couldnt they be conditioned by the fact they knew how they should perform whem impaired and after being slapped? may be they should have done it with people out of the show, wich does not know what are they trying to show.
PS: sorry for my bad english.
Too funny.
I remember about 30 years ago when I was in my early 20’s. My then girlfriend and I had been visiting friends in the country, when on the way home at about 1AM and well below freezing my car quit on a country road.
We’d passed a farmhouse about a mile back and decided we’d walk there. We weren’t dressed for the weather and she on a pair of very light shoes.
We got to the house and we were COLD, she mentioning that she couldn’t really feel her toes.
A doberman came racing up to the gate of the fence and started barking and snarling up a storm.
My friend said she was going to chance the dog and open the gate anyway.
I figured this was going to get her badly mauled, and having seen to man movies, gave her a slap to bring her to her senses.
She looked me straight in the eye and said if I ever slapped her again I’d be looking for a new girlfriend as well as an essential part of my anatomy.
Luckily the dogs barking brought out the farmer and all ended well.
Haven’t slapped anyone since!