USE OF A COMPUTER-CONTROLLED FIREARMS TRAINING SIMULATOR IN PERCEPTION RESPONSE-TIME EXPERIMENTS

This paper describes the use of a custom-configured computer-controlle d firearms training simulator to measure perception response (reaction ) time (RT) to a stimulus in which the degree of threat presented is a manipulable variable across trials. The computer records the number o f frames of videotape traversed between the point of presentation of t he threat in the video stimulus and the point at which the subject res ponds by drawing the firearm. For the purposes of data analysis, these frame-count measures are converted to RT measurements. Example data a re presented that capture perception RT at both the draw-stimulus and the fire-stimulus points in situations for which either only one threa t or more than one threat exists. Other elements, such as degree of th reat and accuracy of response, provide additional data.