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Effects of Neurocognitive Temporal Training on Weapon Firing Performance

While marksmanship is a critical skill for military personnel, some service members experience difficulty in attaining and maintaining marksmanship qualifications. Temporal training may improve marksmanship performance, since rhythm and timing are critical for coordinated movement. In this study, we examined the effect of neurocognitive temporal training (NTT) on military personnel’s marksmanship performance. We randomly assigned 41 active duty U.S. Army service members with prior marksmanship training into an NTT group that received 12 NTT training sessions (N = 18) and a Control group (N = 23) that received no NTT training. We measured marksmanship at baseline (pretest) and following either NTT (posttest) or, for the Control group, a comparable time period. We quantified marksmanship during 2 tasks of firing 5 self-paced shots at stationary 175 m and 300 m targets (Task 1) and firing at 50 moving and stationary targets of varying distances (Task 2). We recorded three measures of accuracy and three measures of precision (including Total Path Length, a unique measure quantifying shot-to-shot variability) for the first task, and we recorded one accuracy measure for the second task. To determine group differences for pretest versus posttest, we used multivariate analysis of variances for Task 1 and a mixed-model analysis of variance for Task 2. Results revealed significantly reduced variability and improved precision when firing at the 175 m target for the NTT group compared with the Control group (p < .05), but there were no significant group differences on other measures. While these results suggest the utility of neurocognitive timing and rhythm training for marksmanship precision, additional research is needed and should include varied training regimens, comparisons of expert versus novice shooters, additional outcome measures, and a larger participant sample.