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THE
GREAT TRICKSTER |
RAPIDFIREPISTOL.COM |
19/05/2026 |
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THE GREAT TRICKSTER |
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Who is the ‘Great Trickster’
The greatest trickster YOU will ever encounter is YOUR OWN BRAIN! Why your brain cannot be trusted
Your brain ‘interprets’ all
your experiences: · Sight: As a very small child, your brain trained itself to accept the signals from the optic nerves and make sense of them – we call this sight. When you look at a wooded scene, your brain fools you into thinking that you are seeing the entire vista – in fact, the area of ‘detail’ you can ‘see’ at any one time is only about the size of your thumbnail at arm’s length; the rest (the vast majority) of the vista consists of what your brain imagines is there. Stage magicians use sleight-of-hand, distraction and smoke and mirrors to work their magic by having your brain interpret what you are seeing as their desired ‘magic’. Optical illusions are nothing new; the towers at each corner of the Taj Mahal are not truly vertical, the architects and the builders made these towers slightly curved in the vertical, making them appear taller than they are. Check out some illusions at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfdJyDfIHIc. · Audio Illusions: What you ‘hear’ is similarly interpreted by your brain: e.g. mildly deaf people often miss (or misinterpret) spoken words, and people with good hearing have trouble following a conversation in a noisy environment: their brain automatically makes matches to the missing word/s. Your brain will interpret the words you are ‘hearing’ depending on the surroundings and visual clues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzo45hWXRWU · Confirmation Bias: All
humans ‘suffer’ from this condition – while it is comparatively easy to spot in
other people, we each are subject to it.
It is much harder to recognise in your own opinions and behaviour. Confirmation
Bias is the brain’s tendency to notice,
believe, and remember information that supports what you already think, while
discounting (or not even noticing) information that challenges it. o You search for evidence that your technique is correct
and ignore feedback that it isn’t. o You remember the times a tip “worked” and forget the times it didn’t (selective memory). o You interpret an average result as “proof” your plan is right, instead of considering other causes (fatigue, timing, conditions). o You give more weight to advice from people you already agree with, and less to those you don’t. How
to reduce confirmation bias (quick checklist) o Actively look for disconfirming evidence: “What would prove me wrong?” o Use objective checks (video, timer data, scored targets) instead of “how it felt”. o Ask a coach/peer to critique one specific thing—and agree to accept the answer. o Run small experiments (change one variable at a time) and write down results. · Position: A classic example is the direction of the firearm in: a) The Ready position: it is very difficult for an athlete to correctly judge the Ready position. This is something that is learned by being corrected (trained) by your coach or the Range Officers – eventually, muscle memory> will kick in and you will have few problems, and b) Elevation over the targets: many (most) ranges have a range rule that loaded firearms must not be directed above the top of the targets. Many shooters when in breach of this range rule will vehemently deny doing so – and continue to do so until you show them a photo of the breach (camera phones and digital cameras area boon at times). What they are doing, and what they think they are doing can be two different things! · Movement: |
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