(41) DOES ENVIRONMENTAL COLD EXPOSURE AND FATIGUE EFFECT PISTOL MARKSMANSHIP AND DECISION MAKING?

Purpose: Examine the effects of cold exposure and fatigue on pistol marksmanship and target engagement decision making in trained marksmen.

Methods: Twelve healthy participants (mean±SD age: 28.75±4.0 yrs) performed two testing visits in randomized order of exposure at Cold [CD] (10°C), and Normal [NM] (24°C). The protocols took place in an environmental chamber with a 30-min acclimatization at the beginning of each visit at that visits corresponding temperature. To assess pistol marksmanship and decision making a shoot-no-shoot (SNS) protocol was performed using a simulator, where a colorized numerical target was displayed at 19.41 m, and participants were provided an audible command to identify which colorized target to engage as fast as possible for five continuous rounds. The SNS protocol was performed prior (T_preF) to a whole-body fatiguing protocol and immediately after (T_postF) the fatiguing protocol. Accordingly, to examine the effect of condition and fatigue on pistol marksmanship and decision making, five separate 2 (Condition: NM and CD) x 2 (Time: T_preF and T_postF) repeated measures ANOVAs were performed for Shooting Accuracy (ACC), Target Hits (Hits), Target Misses (Miss), Total shots (Total), and Completion Time (Comp-time).

Results: For ACC, Miss, Total, and Comp-time, there were significant Condition x Time interactions (p=0.01 – 0.04). Two-follow-up paired sample t-tests were performed to assess each Condition across each fatigue timepoint, and two additional follow-up paired sample t-tests performed to assess fatigue time point across each independent Condition. The results from the paired sample t-tests indicated that ACC increased by 14.3% (p=0.03), Miss decreased by 34.7% (p=0.02), Total decreased by 10.6% (p=0.04), and Comp-time decreased by 9.6% (p=0.04), from T_preF to T_postF during the CD condition alone. Additionally, there were no detectable differences observed between time points throughout the NM condition or comparing the NM condition to the CD condition at any time point (p >0.05). For Hits there were no significant Condition x Time interaction (p=0.79), or main effects for Condition (p=0.31) or Time (p=0.46) observed.

Conclusion: Acute cold exposure had no effect on pistol marksmanship and decision making during a SNS protocol. However, following a repetitive whole-body fatiguing protocol led to improvements in accuracy, and decreased misses, total shots and time to complete the task during the CD condition. Thus suggesting that increased in marksmanship performance observed within the CD condition were likely due to an increase in thermoregulation and improved tactically relevant fine motor skill with more studies needed to identify the physiological causes.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: These findings are useful for tactical strength and conditioning specialists, military, and law enforcement agencies where individuals may need to operate a firearm in cold weather to improve performance. Specifically, increases in thermoregulation may increase pistol shooting accuracy.

Acknowledgements: None