@misc{10481/76400,
year = {2022},
month = {4},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10481/76400},
abstract = {Due to the intrinsic difficulties associated with simulating extreme events, it remains unclear how unpleasant
emotional arousal might affect shooting performance among well-trained high-risk operators. To address this
issue, an infantry rifle squad performed two simulated shooting exercises of different complexity (low vs. high)
while exposed to unpleasant emotionally charged sound clips. A control group underwent the same experimental
procedure without the presence of any sound clips. To externally validate our method of emotional arousal
inoculation, we collected infantrymen’s salivary cortisol and perceived arousal and valence levels over the
experimental phases (i.e., baseline, shooting, and recovery). The dependent variables were their shooting performance
(shot-to-hit ratio and instructor’s evaluation) and the perceived degree of task complexity. Furthermore,
we explored the variations of participants’ nasal skin temperature during the shooting exercises. Salivary
cortisol concentrations varied over time only for the squad exposed to emotionally charged stimuli. While
emotional arousal had an effect on overall infantrymen performance (e.g., precision of movements while
shooting), shooting accuracy was not affected. Emotional arousal did not influence nasal skin temperature.
Overall, our results suggest that arousal inoculation based on emotionally charged sound clips could serve as a
complementary (reliable and ethically appropriate) method to train high-risk operators to deal with emotional
arousal. These findings may also contribute to a better understanding of the role of emotional arousal in operational
effectiveness.},
organization = {Santander Bank - CEMIX UGR-MADOC grant	PINS 2018-15	
PIN 5/2/20 F2F},
organization = {German Research Foundation (DFG)	RYC-2015-17483},
publisher = {Elsevier},
keywords = {Emotions},
keywords = {Cortisol},
keywords = {Psychophysiology},
keywords = {Thermal imaging},
keywords = {Virtual reality},
keywords = {Marksmanship},
keywords = {Soldiers},
title = {The influence of unpleasant emotional arousal on military performance: An experimental study using auditory stimuli during a shooting task},
doi = {10.1016/j.ergon.2022.103295},
author = {Di Stasi, Leandro Luigi and Gianfranchi, Evelyn and Pérez García, Miguel and Díaz Piedra, Carolina},
}