Evidence of our ability to sense the future?

[pablonite]

I saw an interesting BBC Horizon documentary called "How To Make Better Decisions" and near the end of the show they look at what the military calls 'exceptional situational awareness' as it relates to certain fighter pilots ability to predict where the adversary will be in the near future. They claim since WW1 just %4 of pilots account for %40 of kills but that stat could be highly skewed. Anyway...

The experiment carried out in the show measures skin conductance in relation to the emotional response of a subject exposed to pictures. The pictures are categorized as either calm or emotional according to 'industry standard test pictures' or some such thing. They show several of the pictures for example, a guy staring out a window would be 'calm' and a father hugging his child as 'emotional'

So skin conductance remains low when shown calm pictures and rises when shown emotional pictures.

It turns out the subjects skin conductance rises several seconds before being exposed to the emotional pictures that are being randomly displayed by computer interspersed with calm pictures.

The subject shown is a rather unhealthy looking female, not an exceptional fighter pilot so I suppose the experiment indicates we all have the ability?

Anywhoo, I thought I would throw it out there, apparently you can download the show as a podcast at
_bbc.co.uk/horizon if your intrested in watching it.

 

[anart]

I saw an interesting BBC Horizon documentary called "How To Make Better Decisions" and near the end of the show they look at what the military calls 'exceptional situational awareness' as it relates to certain fighter pilots ability to predict where the adversary will be in the near future. They claim since WW1 just %4 of pilots account for %40 of kills but that stat could be highly skewed. Anyway...

Yes, you're right, it could be skewed. Actually, it sounds like a faulty cause/effect analysis. There could be many reasons for this 4% accounting for 40% of the kills that have nothing at all to do with 'situational awareness'. It might even align more closely with what type of 'human' the fighter pilot is - than anything at all to do with 'exceptional awareness'.

The experiment carried out in the show measures skin conductance in relation to the emotional response of a subject exposed to pictures. The pictures are categorized as either calm or emotional according to 'industry standard test pictures' or some such thing. They show several of the pictures for example, a guy staring out a window would be 'calm' and a father hugging his child as 'emotional'

So skin conductance remains low when shown calm pictures and rises when shown emotional pictures.

I wonder how those reactions vary when testing essential psychopaths?

It turns out the subjects skin conductance rises several seconds before being exposed to the emotional pictures that are being randomly displayed by computer interspersed with calm pictures.

The subject shown is a rather unhealthy looking female, not an exceptional fighter pilot so I suppose the experiment indicates we all have the ability?

This sentence is a little concerning, pablonite. What would you consider an 'unhealthy looking female' and why would you assume that such would be less capable than an 'exceptional fighter pilot'? Everything from gender bias, to 'attractiveness bias' to hierarchical bias could come into play in such a statement, which is what is concerning. Not to mention placing a lot of stock in appearances.

However, as far as the show you're discussing, I've come to think quite strongly that human beings have capabilities far beyond what we're told about in grade school and that this reality is much more malleable than most people think, but judging from their track record, I doubt the BBC will be on the forefront of revealing the truth behind the veil anytime soon.

 

[Buddy]

Thanks to pablonite for this thread. It has reinforced, for me, the importance of taking the time to study and learn the dynamics and characteristics of psychopathy.

Indeed, one can watch a documentary like the one mentioned, and be able to immediately perceive that a phrase such as 'exceptional situational awareness', can also be another way of saying "an ability to give their undivided attention to something that interests them intensely."

Laura points this out here:

This leads us to what psychopaths DO have that is truly outstanding: an ability to give their undivided attention to something that interests them intensely. Some clinicians have compared this to the concentration with which a predator stalks his prey. This is useful if one is in an environment with few variables, but most real life situations require us to pay attention to a number of things at once. Psychopaths often pay so much attention to getting what they want that they fail to notice danger signals.

Of course, this is not to suggest that any of the subjects are or are not psychopaths, sociopaths, or anything else...just that the understanding of this subject is extremely important and the importance of knowledge in this area cannot be overestimated, as anart has previously indicated in this important post.


--edit: In the last sentence, changed the phrase:
knowledge in this area cannot be underestimated
...to read:
and the importance of knowledge in this area cannot be overestimated.