Study Evaluates Firefighters’ Brain Responses During Critical Fire Situations

A study from the University of Coimbra (California), published this Thursday, analyzed how firefighters’ brains react when faced with rescue actions, and scientists believe the research could have important implications for improving decision-making in risky situations.

The work, led by researcher Isabel Duarte and Miguel Castelo-Branco, scientific coordinator of the Center for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research at the Institute of Applied Nuclear Sciences in Health (CIBIT/ICNAS), involved running virtual rescue games with 47 participants. firefighters from various corporations in the Coimbra region.

The research team concluded that viewing images related to fire escape decisions could “have a significant impact on improving and teaching decision-making in risky situations,” the University of California said in a statement sent to Lusa.

“By analyzing how the brain resolves dilemmas surrounding life-saving decisions, it is possible to study the role of experience and the use of coping strategies.” [conjunto de estratégias cognitivas e comportamentais usadas pelas pessoas para enfrentar situações de stress, perante condições de elevada sobrecarga emocional para o indivíduo]firefighters,” explained neuroscientist Miguel Castelo-Branco, quoted in the note.

The professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra (FMUC) added that the study allowed us to understand that decision-making dilemmas lead to the activation of neural networks involved in the management of emotional reward and other networks related to ethics and deontology. dilemmas.

The scientific team, which also included the Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Psychological Trauma of the Center for Comprehensive Psychiatric Responsibility of the local medical department of Coimbra, was able to verify that “neural activity associated with the decision to save people decreased in certain areas of the brain. , the greater the ability to use coping strategies, which involves compensatory learning acquired through practice,” the neuroscientist emphasized.

Firefighters in the study “visualized realistic scenarios in which lives were at risk for themselves and potential victims, and they had to make rescue decisions,” Miguel Castelo Branco said.

The exercise simulated firefighting in life-threatening situations, such as burning buildings with at-risk people inside, a situation in which the pre-training and specialization of firefighters plays an important role, while the participants’ brains were studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging.

“We also found that brain activity in areas associated with memory and decision-making, such as the hippocampus and insula, increased proportionally to the increase in risk,” illustrated Miguel Castelo-Branco.

“We were able to identify areas of the brain whose activity was directly related to calculating the likelihood of adverse events, such as falling from a burning house or death,” the researcher noted.

At the same time, non-firefighters showed different brain performance when performing the same decision-making tasks, leading scientists to conclude that how the brain controls decisions depends on experience and training.