Startle reaction: Capturing experiential cues to provide guidelines towards the design of realistic training scenarios

摘要

Unexpected events experienced during a crisis situation, may startle an individual causing them tomomentarily freeze, and become unsure of what to do next. This research identifies event cues andsubsequent responses to them. Ten emergency personnel were interviewed about their experiences withunexpected events, where they had experienced a startle reaction. We used a new methodology (CUUES)to investigate cognitive and behavioural processes used to adapt and respond to them. Results suggest thatregardless of experiencing of experiencing startle, participants were able to gain control of the situation.Our results suggest initial guidelines for the development of realistic training scenarios.