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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
If you are unfamiliar with the concept, the idea of \u201cslapping sense into someone\u201d 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0 — 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The results were enlightening. Throughout the tests, Grant\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
The MythBusters crew decided to push the concept even farther by putting two of the team members through a Hogan\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
So what does this mean for readers of this blog? Simply this: if you find yourself in a situation where your performance is impaired \u2013 for example, if you are cold, tired, and hungry \u2013 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: \u201cThanks, I needed that!\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s head? The MythBusters proved it was impossible. I am soooo disappointed!<\/p>\n
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jock Elliott<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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