Brief Mental Skills Training Improves Memory and Performance in High Stress Police Cadet Training

Psychological performance training has been shown to mitigate the negative effects of stress for police officers. We contributed to this body of evidence using techniques in breathing, mental performance imagery, and attentional focus. One group (experimental) of police academy cadets was trained in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of police and criminal psychology 2016-06, Vol.31 (2), p.122-126
Main Authors: Page, Jonathan W., Asken, Michael J., Zwemer, Charles F., Guido, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral responses
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Cadets
Cognitive ability
College football
Consent
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Heart rate
Hemoglobin
Imagery
Law and Psychology
Memory
Mental imagery
Occupational stress
Oxygen saturation
Pepper spray
Physiology
Police
Police training
Policing
Professional training
Psychology
Recall
Respiration
Skill development
Skills
Stress
Training
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Summary:Psychological performance training has been shown to mitigate the negative effects of stress for police officers. We contributed to this body of evidence using techniques in breathing, mental performance imagery, and attentional focus. One group (experimental) of police academy cadets was trained in these techniques to deal with the stressful event of being sprayed with oleoresin capsicum (OC). Their physiological and behavioral responses to the event were compared to a control group of cadets. The results showed the experimental group demonstrated significantly better memory recall of salient aspects of the OC spray event and that cadets from both groups using controlled breathing during the event scored significantly higher in memory recall. Several trends were found that further suggested the effectiveness of psychological performance training. While heart rate increased from baseline to pre-OC and post-OC measures across groups, there were no group differences at these time points. Our findings add to the growing body of literature on psychological skill training effects on tactical performance and are notable for results of enhanced performance occurring with relatively brief training in the psychological techniques. Because of the ecological design, the findings should generalize to other high stress encounters in policing.
ISSN:0882-0783
1936-6469
DOI:10.1007/s11896-015-9171-8