THE EFFECTS OF STREET NOISE AND FIELD INDEPENDENCY ON POLICE OFFICERSSHOOTING BEHAVIOR

Two studies examining the effects of street noise on police officers' emotion, perception, and performance in simulated shooting events are discussed. Compared to previous research, our studies had a higher eco logical validity. In our studies, ''relevant'' noise was introduced, t he subjects were police officers instead of students, and the behavior we examined was police behavior in simulated firearms incidents. Resu lts revealed that noise resulted in increased emotion, a narrowed perc eption, and an impairment in performance on secondary tasks. In Study 2, the effects of field independency on emotion, perception, and perfo rmance were examined. The outcomes showed that high field-independent subjects compared to low field independent subjects obtained better re sults regarding perception and performance. Finally, some implications are discussed.