麻豆影院

CU 麻豆影院 researcher finds that practice reduces racial bias in a first-person shooter simulation鈥攂ut the benefits only go so far

Can training help prevent police officers from shooting unarmed Black men? Maybe not, according to new research from the 麻豆影院, which found that inducing cognitive load鈥攖axing the brain鈥檚 working memory resources鈥攅rased the benefits of practice in a first-person shooter simulation.

In a in the journal Social Cognition, researchers at CU 麻豆影院, McGill University and the University of Chicago unveiled the results of their study into whether training helps reduce racial bias in a shooter simulation, a proxy for the real-world when deciding whether to shoot suspects.

The researchers found that practicing the simulation helped improve participants鈥� accuracy in determining when to shoot and when not to shoot armed and unarmed Black and white men shown on a screen. But when trained participants also had to think about something else while performing the simulation, the benefits of practicing the simulation disappeared. Participants incorrectly shot unarmed Black targets more often than unarmed white targets, and they failed to shoot armed white targets more often than armed Blacks.

From these results, researchers posit that deciding whether or not to shoot a suspect is a multifaceted, cognitively difficult process and, unless police officers are working in optimal conditions鈥攖hat is, they鈥檙e not under cognitive load鈥攖raining likely won鈥檛 help reduce racial bias on the job.

鈥淭his study really suggests that this type of process鈥攐f very quickly looking at whether the object is a gun or a cellphone鈥攊s relatively inefficient,鈥� said Balbir Singh, a CU 麻豆影院 social psychology graduate student and the paper鈥檚 lead author. 鈥淭hat could and should help inform further research in this field to really understand how these complex cognitive processes occur.鈥�

The findings are bleak and seem to challenge the value of training intended to reduce racial bias among police officers, the researchers note. But the results also offer some insight into the types of police training that could be more effective. Namely, that police departments should consider training their officers under the same conditions they鈥檙e likely to face in the field, when they鈥檙e scared and tired.

鈥淩ealism may provide officers with an opportunity to practice handling the full cognitive, physical and emotional complexity of a potentially lethal encounter,鈥� the researchers wrote.

Studying racial bias

Police killed roughly five times as many Black suspects as white suspects per capita between 1978 and 2001, federal statistics show. Researchers believe racial bias is to blame, with police officers drawing on stereotypes that Black men are dangerous in deciding to use lethal force.

Since the early 2000s, researchers at CU 麻豆影院鈥攍ed by psychology and neuroscience associate professor Josh Correll鈥攈ave been studying racial bias with a video game-style, first-person shooter task.听

During these simulations, participants view digital images of Black and white men holding objects鈥攍ike cell phones, wallets and guns鈥攚ith realistic backgrounds. As the targets appear on the screen, participants must press buttons labeled 鈥渟hoot鈥� or 鈥渄on鈥檛 shoot鈥� as quickly as possible.听

When they conduct these experiments with undergraduates and members of the community, researchers see clear evidence of racial bias in both reaction time and accuracy. Participants 鈥渟hoot鈥� armed Black targets more quickly than they 鈥渟hoot鈥� armed white targets, and they select 鈥渄on鈥檛 shoot鈥� for unarmed white targets more quickly than unarmed Black targets. They also incorrectly select 鈥渟hoot鈥� for unarmed Black targets more often than they do for unarmed targets and select 鈥渄on鈥檛 shoot鈥� for armed white targets more often than they do for armed black targets.听

When researchers run the same experiment with police officers, though, they see different results. Police officers show racial bias in their response times, but not in their accuracy. These findings suggest that racial stereotypes influence the speed of officers鈥� responses, but not their ultimate decision to shoot or not shoot.听

Researchers saw similar results with undergraduate participants who were given an extra opportunity to practice the first-person shooter simulation before starting the experiment.

鈥淭his is a really peculiar pattern,鈥� Singh said. 鈥淲e wanted to understand: What is going on in that discrepancy? Why do we have no bias in error rates, but we do have bias in reaction times鈥攁nd maybe that鈥檚 because it鈥檚 a relatively inefficient process. If so, we should be able to undermine it with a level of cognitive load or distraction.鈥�

Increasing cognitive load

To test their hypothesis, researchers randomly assigned 139 non-Black undergraduates to either be trained or novices (one group got to practice the first-person shooter task and the other did not). Both groups then performed the first-person shooter task under low, medium and high levels of cognitive load, completing 50 trials under each load level.

To induce the varying levels of cognitive load, the researchers added auditory cues鈥攁 male voice saying a single-digit number鈥攖o the first-person shooter task.听

In the low-cognitive-load condition, participants simply heard the numbers while performing the shooter task. In the medium condition, participants indicated whether the number they heard was greater or less than five by saying 鈥渉igh鈥� or 鈥渓ow鈥� out loud. In the high cognitive load condition, participants indicated whether the number was greater or less than the previous number they heard by saying 鈥渉igh鈥� or 鈥渓ow鈥� out loud.听

As cognitive load increased from low to medium to high, the benefits of practice disappeared. Under cognitive load, trained participants showed just as much racial bias as novices in the accuracy of their decisions.

鈥淭he benefits of practice were completely erased,鈥� the researchers wrote.

This paper makes an important contribution to the scientific literature, but it also provides fodder for further research, the researchers commented. Singh noted that one next step could be to run the experiment with police officers instead of undergraduates, as well as study the effects of training regimens that mirror test conditions. Other future research could explore how practice affects the different cognitive processes involved in the first-person shooter simulation.

鈥淭hese are all future questions that the field should ask: Can we train officers in ways that actually replicate their environment? Does that reduce bias?鈥� Singh said.