Avoiding "cognitive tunneling"

[Rich Parsons]

Are any of you aware of any practices for reducing cognitive tunneling (defined below) in a self-defense context?

Cognitive tunneling is an effect that occurs when our brains move from an auto-pilot mode (like when we're walking down the street, just enjoying the day or thinking about work, etc. - Condition White) to a crisis situation (Condition Orange or Red) where decisions are suddenly neceessary. The brain tends to lock in on the single stimulus most dominant (often, right in front of the field of vision at that moment) and ignore all others in decision making. This could lead to a whole range of problems, not the least being focusing on an obvious threat and ignoring two others next to him.

This will seem funny, yet give it a try.
Get online, and read forums, while listening to music and and watching TV.

Type while people are talking and type on a different subject.

Also do things while under stress and or with adrenaline such as on a roller coaster. While in this situation think about things around your and what was around you and ...

Train your body and mind to work on multiple things at once and to pay attention to your surroundings.

Walk into a room and remember what is outside the room and then go back into the other room and and see home much you remembered.

Mileage may vary

 

[Juany118]

I've suspected for a while that learning to listen to your coach and follow instructions while in a match can have some useful carryover to a street situation. It's pretty common for fighters to develop such tunnel vision in the heat of a match that they either don't hear anything their coach is yelling at them or else don't really register what is being said as something they should react to.

My theory is that if you develop the habit of keeping your ears open so you can hear your coach say "watch out, he's setting up for a double leg", you're more likely in a street fight to hear someone yell "watch out, he's got a knife!" I don't have any empirical evidence for this, but it seems likely.



I'm thinking of adding some little occasional game changers when my students are sparring - tossing a training knife out on the mat (or having one student start out with the knife concealed in their gi), having "reinforcements" arrive to help out one sparring partner, etc so that the students have to maintain the mental flexibility to switch gears on a moments notice.

The article I linked earlier mentions this...

This phenomenon is called “auditory exclusion,” and it’s a result of the nerve that connects the inner ear and the brain shutting down in the heat of battle. According to Grossman, 90% of combat soldiers report having experienced auditory exclusion. “You get caught by surprise in an ambush. Boom. Boom. Boom. The shots are loud and overwhelming. You return fire, boom. The shots get quiet, but you’re still getting hearing damage.”

I believe this is related to the adrenaline dump. The article goes into a lot of detail on the effects of fight or flight. From reading other articles that go more into the causes than the effects the various symptoms (tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, "condition black" etc) can be mitigated by tactical breathing (aka Dantian breathing) and building good muscle memory, even for fine motor skills. Many of the effects scale up as our heart rate increases. They start to kick in at around 115 bpm and at 145 bpm they can go right out the window. Having the muscle memory will allow you to still function in what @lklawson has called "Robo-droid" but unless you influence the heart rate cognitive function and tunnel vision still kick in big time.

 

[Juany118]

This will seem funny, yet give it a try.
Get online, and read forums, while listening to music and and watching TV.

Type while people are talking and type on a different subject.

Also do things while under stress and or with adrenaline such as on a roller coaster. While in this situation think about things around your and what was around you and ...

Train your body and mind to work on multiple things at once and to pay attention to your surroundings.

Walk into a room and remember what is outside the room and then go back into the other room and and see home much you remembered.

Mileage may vary

I do similar things. Now I don't get the cognitive degradation because it lacks the hormone dump but the following is better than nothing.

If I am going to do something that requires fine motor skills, say Sinawali in Kali, I will first sprint for 25 yards, drop and perform 20 push-ups as fast as possible then perform the task. If inside slam out 40 jumping jacks in place of running. I do the same when shooting at the range but add a friend being with me. After doing the exercises I then wait for my friend to yell "threat!!!" Before drawing and firing 2-3 rounds. I have to fire those rounds in a number of seconds = to the rounds being fired.

 

[jks9199]

This is the issue - if we know the stress is coming (like with a competition), there's no sudden change of state. Pilots didn't used to have the issues seen in that Air France flight, because they were always flying the plane. Once automation took over the routine portion of the flight (pilots only having to manually control about 10 minutes of the flight), there was potential for the problem.

And you've nailed the problem right there... Inappropriate levels of attention and awareness. You can't train yourself out of an instinctive level response like that without some significant actions -- and consequences. Instead -- learn to maintain the appropriate level of awareness for what's going on, switching focus and level as needed.

 

[Juany118]

And you've nailed the problem right there... Inappropriate levels of attention and awareness. You can't train yourself out of an instinctive level response like that without some significant actions -- and consequences. Instead -- learn to maintain the appropriate level of awareness for what's going on, switching focus and level as needed.

Please correct me if I misunderstood what you were saying above.

That holds its own dangers as well though (relying more so on awareness than training), depending on your career. In a career like mine, and my former one as a soldier, not balancing "training out" instinctive reactions with practiced awareness can lead to hypervigilance. I went through a period early in my LEO career where I couldn't drop out of Condition Yellow, to Condition White. That lead to me appearing more than a little antisocial, trashed sleeping patterns and my wife getting progressively more pissed off that I was "always in work mode."

It's a weird balancing act. We can condition ourselves to bypass certain issues in cognitive thinking so the drawing of a weapon and target acquisition are as normal as walking to the car. As you said that has costs. The most efficient way I have found, and read about, however is to train in such a way that we actually take advantage of "fight or flight" when the crap hits the fan and trust in that training. In essence you train in ways that direct the natural "fight or flight" reaction in the manner you want it to move. If you don't and rely too much on awareness (note I said too much) you run the risk of hypervigilance.

 

[Steve]

I am having a hard time envisioning a person who is not professionally at risk maintaining the kind of continuous, heightened awareness you guys seem to be describing.
When you are all outlining strategies, are you picturing these for all students or are you thinking more in terms of people who are at higher risk for violence?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

And you've nailed the problem right there... Inappropriate levels of attention and awareness. You can't train yourself out of an instinctive level response like that without some significant actions -- and consequences. Instead -- learn to maintain the appropriate level of awareness for what's going on, switching focus and level as needed.

Apparently, it is possible to greatly reduce the incidence of CT through the use of cognitive models. A comparative case is used in the book Smarter Faster Better, wherein the Captain of a flight starts out every flight by having the cockpit crew identify what a "good flight" looks like (a model for recognizing when something isn't right), and what their first area of focus should be (something hopefully not directly in their view, something that makes them look up or away).

What I'm working on is a way to replicate this in a moment when we can't afford to look away. I can't reasonablly train my students to look over their left shoulder when someone steps up in front of them and looks like they are going to punch.

Remember that overcoming "instinct" is much of what we do in martial arts. We train new habits that overcome old ones, even reflexes.

 

[Steve]

Apparently, it is possible to greatly reduce the incidence of CT through the use of cognitive models. A comparative case is used in the book Smarter Faster Better, wherein the Captain of a flight starts out every flight by having the cockpit crew identify what a "good flight" looks like (a model for recognizing when something isn't right), and what their first area of focus should be (something hopefully not directly in their view, something that makes them look up or away).

What I'm working on is a way to replicate this in a moment when we can't afford to look away. I can't reasonablly train my students to look over their left shoulder when someone steps up in front of them and looks like they are going to punch.

Remember that overcoming "instinct" is much of what we do in martial arts. We train new habits that overcome old ones, even reflexes.

One exercise I do with new managers is to talk about factors that go into decision making. Through the course of the discussion, we identify different elements that will affect making a decision in a crisis. Typically, things that come up are policies, laws, safety, risk, urgency, privacy, results... there are many.

Then we work through various scenarios. Some are big crisis and others are more benign. For example, what would you do if you came into the office, the HVAC isn't working and it's below 60F or above 80F? What if it's 6am and you're the first one there, or if it's 2pm and the lobby is full of customers? What if it's 50F or above 85F?

We go through workload scenarios, health and safety, emergency situations and discuss the relationship between these decision factors, and in particular when one factor trumps another. A common one is safety. Even if you're a "rules follower," when does safety trump policy? Do results ever trump the rules? How does risk factor into decision making?

The end result is that, ideally, these people have a much better sense of their own priorities, and will make better decisions, big and small.

So, just thinking out loud, in a self defense context, I wonder how this could really work. It seems like the catalyst for this CT is crisis, but the two working elements of a cognitive model are the model itself and application of the model in context. You can provide a self defense model, but most people are not in a position to actually apply the model in context. Are they?

What I mean is, for the average joe, this seems like it could easily create a false sense of imminent danger and a kind of generalized, low level paranoia.

 

[Rich Parsons]

I am having a hard time envisioning a person who is not professionally at risk maintaining the kind of continuous, heightened awareness you guys seem to be describing.
When you are all outlining strategies, are you picturing these for all students or are you thinking more in terms of people who are at higher risk for violence?

1) Not all students will do it and will still remain oblivious too their surroundings
2) Yes, I recommend it for all with the understanding that mileage will vary
a) Some will walk around as stated in work mode or on edge and it will set others off. It will affect sleep as one sleep real light and the cat walking through a room on carpet might be noticed.
b) Learning to identify when you are with friends who also are aware, gives you a moment to relax.
c) Learning that at home and low risk areas one can relax more, yet, walk through slowly their exit strategy and or reading the room.
d) Once you do "c" enough it happens naturally and instinctively as you do it. And you stay relaxed while doing it and also the background tasks are running.
e) My original post was about engaging your background tasks and capabilities. training them to work in multiple situations. I have a radio on in the other room and I have a speaker phone on for a work meeting and I am typing this up.
f) Music becomes a real easy background task. I do not recommend having it play as you sleep and while you sleep. This trains the mind to relax to the music and makes it easier for one to fall asleep while driving . Not safe.
3) Transition from relaxed to ON or Aware is where most people loose it. So if you do it all the time with your background tasks then when it happens in your car, quickly remember what was going on around you. Try to remember the license plate in one read.
4) It is like a joint lock in a stick fight or a disarm in sparring, if you never practice a technique in slow controlled situations one will never stand a chance to try it at speed and time.


Good Luck

 

[jks9199]

Please correct me if I misunderstood what you were saying above.

We're on similar pages.

First -- the cognitive tunneling effect the OP is concerned with is really a pretty near instinctive level action. When we move to dealing with a threat or crisis -- we focus on the most immediately perceived issue. Hence the "invisible knives" or focus on keeping wings level rather than dealing with a stall; it's what was immediately perceived as the problem, and under severe adrenal stress, it's hard as hell to refocus. It's wired deep and hard, because it was probably not very beneficial to worry about stubbing our toe on a tree root when Mr. Sabretooth Tiger was about to eat us...

You can overcome that sort of wiring -- but there's a price to be paid. Typically, you end up simply trading the old instinctive response for a new one... and that new response might create problems in another setting. (And the training process isn't really enjoyable... visit classical operant conditioning.)

Second -- if you don't maintain an appropriate level of awareness, it quickly becomes dysfunctional. In Condition Yellow, you're alert, accepting that there are potential threats around, but you haven't focused on one. In Condition Orange, you've recognized a potential threat, and are paying attention to see what it's doing. In Condition Red, you've focused 100% on that threat, and are ready to take action to end it. (Those who add Condition Black describe it as panic mode; that's the whole situation we're trying to avoid!) Condition White is all guards down, no expectation of any threat. So... at home, behind locked doors, White is probably OK -- but Red would be seriously inappropriate! For a cop on patrol, Yellow to Orange should be going on routinely, with "dips" into Red. For an average office worker, spending their day in the office, Yellow makes sense, but they probably won't hit Orange very often. And so on...

Taking on an inappropriate level of awareness for the activities and environment leads to problems. The cop who "can't turn it off" and looks at everyone like a suspect isn't exactly fun to be around, right? Neither is that naif who can't see a bad thing happening in the world and needs someone around them to keep them from walking into traffic... Both wear out the folks around them, in different ways.

So the trick is to set yourself at an appropriate level for where you are and what you are doing. I'm currently in my house, with my son and 2 of his friends. Yeah, I'm not on White -- I'm a kind of low Yellow. Like anyone else, I've had days when I don't remember my drive home -- inappropriately on White. At work, I get dispatched to a call, and I'm shifting from Yellow to Orange, focusing on the specific concerns of the call. I might find myself going to Red as I notice a suspicous person whose hands are concealed, and isn't responding appropriately to my words -- then back to Yellow as I see the earphones or realize that he's deaf. Maintaining an appropriate level of awareness means that when you need to shift, it's a conscious change aimed at what's happening, not a sudden "oh crap!" event that leads to jumping from Yellow (or White) to Red (or Black).

 

[jks9199]

I am having a hard time envisioning a person who is not professionally at risk maintaining the kind of continuous, heightened awareness you guys seem to be describing.
When you are all outlining strategies, are you picturing these for all students or are you thinking more in terms of people who are at higher risk for violence?

For an "ordinary person", you still need to shift awareness. An office worker shouldn't get so absorbed in their work at the desk that they jump when the phone rings or someone walks in -- or doesn't hear when someone talks to them. They get up, go to lunch, and walk out the door -- they should be watching what's around them, paying attention -- and if they see a guy leaning up against a wall, about to block their path -- maybe they go up to Orange until they figure out what's up. The guy actually steps out and blocks their path -- they need to go to Red and be ready to put a plan of action into play. He turns and walks away -- and they can drop back down. He brandishes a gun, and demands money -- maybe they give him the money, maybe they sprint across the street, maybe they go for their own gun (assuming they have one). That's up to them.

Or driving... As you drive, you should be in Yellow, looking ahead, around, and behind for what other drivers are doing, road hazards, etc. A car in front of you starts to drift towards your lane, or hits their turn signal (wonder of wonders!), you go to Yellow while you wait to see if they're going to change lanes safely or cut you off. You get a flat, and you find yourself in Red, dealing with getting safely off the road.

Cooper's Color Codes are simple model for describing attention and awareness; nothing more. I could have written everything above without referring to them at all -- but they give an easy shorthand. Moving levels of awareness is something we all do, or should do. How well we do it... well, that's the rub, huh?

 

[mograph]

There was a video a few years back on this about basketballs and such. Anyone here see that? I don't want to say more, in case you haven't seen it. Very interesting.

Absolutely -- saw it in cognitive psych class: it, and cognitive capture/tunnelling is about inattentional blindness.

 

[Buka]

I think everyone is different. As a cop, I walk around in Condition teddy bear. I'm as relaxed as any time in my life other than the dojo. Just feels right. For me, personally, I pick up on cues easier and quicker when I'm in that mode. I observe things better, I profile better, I diffuse things better. Martial Arts has taught me a lot, least of which is throwing the the fast twitch switch from nothing to everything. And I can throw it even quicker when in chill mode.

If I were to walk around in condition yellow or red, my head would have exploded a long time ago. Would have ruined a perfectly good shirt.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

One exercise I do with new managers is to talk about factors that go into decision making. Through the course of the discussion, we identify different elements that will affect making a decision in a crisis. Typically, things that come up are policies, laws, safety, risk, urgency, privacy, results... there are many.

Then we work through various scenarios. Some are big crisis and others are more benign. For example, what would you do if you came into the office, the HVAC isn't working and it's below 60F or above 80F? What if it's 6am and you're the first one there, or if it's 2pm and the lobby is full of customers? What if it's 50F or above 85F?

We go through workload scenarios, health and safety, emergency situations and discuss the relationship between these decision factors, and in particular when one factor trumps another. A common one is safety. Even if you're a "rules follower," when does safety trump policy? Do results ever trump the rules? How does risk factor into decision making?

The end result is that, ideally, these people have a much better sense of their own priorities, and will make better decisions, big and small.

So, just thinking out loud, in a self defense context, I wonder how this could really work. It seems like the catalyst for this CT is crisis, but the two working elements of a cognitive model are the model itself and application of the model in context. You can provide a self defense model, but most people are not in a position to actually apply the model in context. Are they?

What I mean is, for the average joe, this seems like it could easily create a false sense of imminent danger and a kind of generalized, low level paranoia.

The first purpose of the cognitive model is to give a way to recognize when things are "off". In a self-defense context, a cognitive model would describe what a "safe" situation looks like. We'd need more than one, though we could probably afford to get by with two: one for calm situations where nothing creepy is going on, and one for conflicts that are not likely to be dangerous.

Using those models should allow an individual to NOT be paranoid, because they wouldn't have to constantly consciously evaluate the situation for danger.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

For an "ordinary person", you still need to shift awareness. An office worker shouldn't get so absorbed in their work at the desk that they jump when the phone rings or someone walks in -- or doesn't hear when someone talks to them. They get up, go to lunch, and walk out the door -- they should be watching what's around them, paying attention -- and if they see a guy leaning up against a wall, about to block their path -- maybe they go up to Orange until they figure out what's up. The guy actually steps out and blocks their path -- they need to go to Red and be ready to put a plan of action into play. He turns and walks away -- and they can drop back down. He brandishes a gun, and demands money -- maybe they give him the money, maybe they sprint across the street, maybe they go for their own gun (assuming they have one). That's up to them.

Or driving... As you drive, you should be in Yellow, looking ahead, around, and behind for what other drivers are doing, road hazards, etc. A car in front of you starts to drift towards your lane, or hits their turn signal (wonder of wonders!), you go to Yellow while you wait to see if they're going to change lanes safely or cut you off. You get a flat, and you find yourself in Red, dealing with getting safely off the road.

Cooper's Color Codes are simple model for describing attention and awareness; nothing more. I could have written everything above without referring to them at all -- but they give an easy shorthand. Moving levels of awareness is something we all do, or should do. How well we do it... well, that's the rub, huh?

The car drifting into your lane is a good example of how we use cognitive models. You don't have to do a lot of analysis to figure out there's an issue. You carry a model in your head of what a "safe road" looks like. As that car starts to drift, it violates that model, so your attention is drawn to it.

The more I think about it, the more I think that some small adjustments in our training would make cognitive models more central, which would solve a major part of the problem, since it would draw our attention to what violates the model.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

We're on similar pages.

First -- the cognitive tunneling effect the OP is concerned with is really a pretty near instinctive level action. When we move to dealing with a threat or crisis -- we focus on the most immediately perceived issue. Hence the "invisible knives" or focus on keeping wings level rather than dealing with a stall; it's what was immediately perceived as the problem, and under severe adrenal stress, it's hard as hell to refocus. It's wired deep and hard, because it was probably not very beneficial to worry about stubbing our toe on a tree root when Mr. Sabretooth Tiger was about to eat us...

You can overcome that sort of wiring -- but there's a price to be paid. Typically, you end up simply trading the old instinctive response for a new one... and that new response might create problems in another setting. (And the training process isn't really enjoyable... visit classical operant conditioning.)

Second -- if you don't maintain an appropriate level of awareness, it quickly becomes dysfunctional. In Condition Yellow, you're alert, accepting that there are potential threats around, but you haven't focused on one. In Condition Orange, you've recognized a potential threat, and are paying attention to see what it's doing. In Condition Red, you've focused 100% on that threat, and are ready to take action to end it. (Those who add Condition Black describe it as panic mode; that's the whole situation we're trying to avoid!) Condition White is all guards down, no expectation of any threat. So... at home, behind locked doors, White is probably OK -- but Red would be seriously inappropriate! For a cop on patrol, Yellow to Orange should be going on routinely, with "dips" into Red. For an average office worker, spending their day in the office, Yellow makes sense, but they probably won't hit Orange very often. And so on...

Taking on an inappropriate level of awareness for the activities and environment leads to problems. The cop who "can't turn it off" and looks at everyone like a suspect isn't exactly fun to be around, right? Neither is that naif who can't see a bad thing happening in the world and needs someone around them to keep them from walking into traffic... Both wear out the folks around them, in different ways.

So the trick is to set yourself at an appropriate level for where you are and what you are doing. I'm currently in my house, with my son and 2 of his friends. Yeah, I'm not on White -- I'm a kind of low Yellow. Like anyone else, I've had days when I don't remember my drive home -- inappropriately on White. At work, I get dispatched to a call, and I'm shifting from Yellow to Orange, focusing on the specific concerns of the call. I might find myself going to Red as I notice a suspicous person whose hands are concealed, and isn't responding appropriately to my words -- then back to Yellow as I see the earphones or realize that he's deaf. Maintaining an appropriate level of awareness means that when you need to shift, it's a conscious change aimed at what's happening, not a sudden "oh crap!" event that leads to jumping from Yellow (or White) to Red (or Black).

Condition Black is, as you suggest, what we're trying to avoid. One version of that would be pure CT. Other versions would include freezing, scanning wildly without any focus, and other attentional dysfunction.

 

[Steve]

The first purpose of the cognitive model is to give a way to recognize when things are "off". In a self-defense context, a cognitive model would describe what a "safe" situation looks like. We'd need more than one, though we could probably afford to get by with two: one for calm situations where nothing creepy is going on, and one for conflicts that are not likely to be dangerous.

Using those models should allow an individual to NOT be paranoid, because they wouldn't have to constantly consciously evaluate the situation for danger.

Okay, I probably don't understand, but isn't failing to consciously evaluate a situation exactly the catalyst for a CT when a crisis does occur?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Okay, I probably don't understand, but isn't failing to consciously evaluate a situation exactly the catalyst for a CT when a crisis does occur?

Yes, that's a reasonable description of the problem. If I'm on auto-pilot (so not evaluating the situation consciously), then I am set up for the CT process if a crisis arises, wherein I suddenly have to go to conscious decision-making.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Okay, I probably don't understand, but isn't failing to consciously evaluate a situation exactly the catalyst for a CT when a crisis does occur?

Ah, I think I just got your point. Yes, that is what leads us there. Recall, though, that the issue with CT is that we get focused on something that is often irrelevant to the issue at hand (in the case of the Air France flight, the roll indicator). A good cognitive model lets us focus on where the situation doesn't meet the model, which, at the least, will put our focus on something relevant. I'm still looking into why this doesn't lead to CT focused on that one thing. Perhaps it's simply that we don't get to focus on that single aspect most central to our vision (normally the focus in CT), and that the model draws our attention to the several points we used in constructing the model.

Knowing the nature of psychology, we probably don't yet know the exact process here.

 

[Juany118]

We're on similar pages.

First -- the cognitive tunneling effect the OP is concerned with is really a pretty near instinctive level action. When we move to dealing with a threat or crisis -- we focus on the most immediately perceived issue. Hence the "invisible knives" or focus on keeping wings level rather than dealing with a stall; it's what was immediately perceived as the problem, and under severe adrenal stress, it's hard as hell to refocus. It's wired deep and hard, because it was probably not very beneficial to worry about stubbing our toe on a tree root when Mr. Sabretooth Tiger was about to eat us...

You can overcome that sort of wiring -- but there's a price to be paid. Typically, you end up simply trading the old instinctive response for a new one... and that new response might create problems in another setting. (And the training process isn't really enjoyable... visit classical operant conditioning.)

Second -- if you don't maintain an appropriate level of awareness, it quickly becomes dysfunctional. In Condition Yellow, you're alert, accepting that there are potential threats around, but you haven't focused on one. In Condition Orange, you've recognized a potential threat, and are paying attention to see what it's doing. In Condition Red, you've focused 100% on that threat, and are ready to take action to end it. (Those who add Condition Black describe it as panic mode; that's the whole situation we're trying to avoid!) Condition White is all guards down, no expectation of any threat. So... at home, behind locked doors, White is probably OK -- but Red would be seriously inappropriate! For a cop on patrol, Yellow to Orange should be going on routinely, with "dips" into Red. For an average office worker, spending their day in the office, Yellow makes sense, but they probably won't hit Orange very often. And so on...

Taking on an inappropriate level of awareness for the activities and environment leads to problems. The cop who "can't turn it off" and looks at everyone like a suspect isn't exactly fun to be around, right? Neither is that naif who can't see a bad thing happening in the world and needs someone around them to keep them from walking into traffic... Both wear out the folks around them, in different ways.

So the trick is to set yourself at an appropriate level for where you are and what you are doing. I'm currently in my house, with my son and 2 of his friends. Yeah, I'm not on White -- I'm a kind of low Yellow. Like anyone else, I've had days when I don't remember my drive home -- inappropriately on White. At work, I get dispatched to a call, and I'm shifting from Yellow to Orange, focusing on the specific concerns of the call. I might find myself going to Red as I notice a suspicous person whose hands are concealed, and isn't responding appropriately to my words -- then back to Yellow as I see the earphones or realize that he's deaf. Maintaining an appropriate level of awareness means that when you need to shift, it's a conscious change aimed at what's happening, not a sudden "oh crap!" event that leads to jumping from Yellow (or White) to Red (or Black).

First let me clarify, I thing that part of the issue is I was using the old color code which had only white/green, yellow and red, like a traffic light. I will use Cooper's Colors in this below response.

I think the difference is the training out aspect. If you train correctly the only issue is time/repetition. As an example. The training should always address the OODA loop. A stimulus makes you Observe a potential threat, you then Orient to the potential threat, you then Decide is it a actually a threat, then you Act appropriately.

So I can be walking down the street and hear "bang!!!" I orient to the sound. If I then see that it's a guy who just threw a fire cracker I move on, if I see a weapon I react in another way.

What is all of the above about? Your training should only address the D and A of OODA, Observe and Orient are things you can cultivate naturally. In doing it this way you actually arent creating any possible negative behaviors. I think the problem is most civilian training doesn't directly address the O, O and D of OODA, it often only addresses A. If you personally cultivate the O's and train in the D and A, you shouldn't react inappropriately.

I think everyone is different. As a cop, I walk around in Condition teddy bear. I'm as relaxed as any time in my life other than the dojo. Just feels right. For me, personally, I pick up on cues easier and quicker when I'm in that mode. I observe things better, I profile better, I diffuse things better. Martial Arts has taught me a lot, least of which is throwing the the fast twitch switch from nothing to everything. And I can throw it even quicker when in chill mode.

If I were to walk around in condition yellow or red, my head would have exploded a long time ago. Would have ruined a perfectly good shirt.

I think our issue was we are both using the old white/green, yellow, red protocol. Now there is orange. Yellow is simply...That you are paying attention to the sights and sounds that surround you whether you are at home or moving in society, you simply have moved your alertness to a level of attention that will prevent you from being totally surprised by the actions of another person.

We were equating Yellow, I think with what is now Orange in some training...In condition orange, you have identified something of interest that may or may not prove to be a threat. Until you determine the true nature of whatever has piqued your interest, your “radar” is narrowed to concentrate on the possible threat and will remain so focused until you are satisfied no threat exists.

Does this mean we are the "old heads"? Lol