Chapter 15: Mental Models Flashcards
Chapter 15: Mental Models p197
What are mental models?
Your mind’s point of reference for what is happening now and what’s going to happen in the future. These mental models are based on a host of factors including responders collected training and experience, knowledge of the type of incident, dispatch information, and size of information.
This information helps the firefighter understand what’s going on now, and was going to happen.
Mental models are rooted in situational awareness.
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How are mental models critical for recognition primed decision making?
If your brain forms a pattern match based on past experiences, it may trigger intuition-based response. Then he would get a intuitional gut feeling about what to do (and may not be able to explain how you know). The intuition base feeling comes from your tactic (subconscious) knowledge
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How should you be cautious with your gut feeling?
Just like you, your intuitions are not perfect. There are a slew of reasons why your intuition must be verified.
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Neuroscience name for intuition
Unconscious decision-making
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How can you benefit from intuition even through you have never had the experience before?
Your brain takes bits and pieces of various past experiences, each of which are stored as patterns, and put the pieces of the mental puzzle together forming a pattern match.
You don’t need an exact match. Only the patterns have to match not the whole scenario.
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How can intuition lead you down the wrong road?
The brain forms pattern matches based on clues and cues it has processed.
If there are important clues and cues missing your brain is processing the wrong meaning from the cues and clues.
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How can/how can’t the brain comprehend what it doesn’t know?
Can: the brain has an amazing ability to take bits and pieces of information, with remarkable accuracy, and fill in the information that is missing. Example, blind spots being filled in based on your memory of past experience coupled with calculations about current surroundings. –
Can’t: when faced with incomplete information, brain can fill in the facts based on what it thinks should be there, but is not infallible.
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To develop and maintain strong situational awareness requires three things of the decision-maker:
- You must be conscious- awake
- You must be present- paying attention
- You must scan your environment- visually and audibly.
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How does scanning your environment help you maintain strong situational awareness?
Scanning the environment serves two important purposes.
- Helps avoid fixation on one task/geographical area
- Helps fill in blind spots with accurate information
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What is a critical action responders should take to improve pattern matching ability of the brain?
To search out facts that validate the accuracy of intuition. Facts are evidence a rational brain can use to validate the veracity of the intuition.
Trust but verify
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Why is it that after you locked up into a belief that it can be difficult to change your mind?
The brain can stubbornly disregard facts that run contrary to its beliefs to hold on to the validity of its original conclusion.
You can stop this shortcoming of playing the role of the devils advocate to your intuition. Actively ask yourself how odd clues and cues may mean something different than what you think is actually going on.
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In addition to dismissing facts that don’t cooperate its view of the scenario, how else can the brain decrease your situational awareness to support its original conclusion?
Allowing us to see what we want to see. Your brain can go on a subconscious fact finding mission seeking out only facts that support the existing paradigm.
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How can an experienced command aid or advisor be crucial in verifying mental modeling?
They can play the role of the devils advocate to confirm the veracity of the mental model.
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Why is it important that the challenge and verification process be done only in moderation?
Because badgering the decision-maker may only serve to choke his ability to make and implement a timely action plan.
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When does mental modeling of an incident began?
It’s not uncommon for responders to form a mental model prior to actually arriving. They combine information about the current call with prior experience of similar type calls or previous calls to that address.
