Publications by authors named "Frank Morelli"

Marksmanship performance while moving is a critical skill among tactical athletes due to the high demands of their occupational duties. Qualifications for dynamic marksmanship performance are not standardized across tactical athlete groups, which may limit comprehensive assessment of tactical athlete performance for situational awareness and adaptability to an unpredictable environment. Although static marksmanship performance provides foundational information on skills and level of ability, research is lacking on factors that influence dynamic marksmanship performance to best prepare tactical athletes for duties.

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Defence acquisitions use accuracy measures as a discriminating factor in weapon purchases, but assessments are generally completed in static, supported postures at static targets with few differences being seen between configurations. The aim of this study was to investigate whether an assessment requiring repositioning between shots could reveal differences. Participants shot at a static target under four conditions: an unweighted rifle and the addition of a mass fixed at three different positions.

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Article Synopsis
  • Mental fatigue negatively impacts soldiers' marksmanship performance, particularly in decision-making accuracy during live-fire scenarios.
  • Twenty trained infantry soldiers participated in a study comparing their shooting accuracy after completing either a mentally fatiguing task or a control task, using heart rate variability and subjective workload assessments to measure effects.
  • Results showed that while overall projectile accuracy and precision didn't differ significantly, the mental fatigue led to a notable increase in decision errors when soldiers had to determine whether to shoot or withhold shots.
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Objective: The goal of this study was to quantify shooter performance relative to subtle variations in recoil energy.

Background: Marksmanship performance remains undefined for subtle distinctions in weapon recoil energy across common small-arms platforms.

Method: Weapons were customized using multiple components and ammunition types.

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Participants studied seven meaningful scene-regions bordered by removable boundaries (30s each). In Experiment 1 (N = 80) participants used visual or haptic exploration and then minutes later, reconstructed boundary position using the same or the alternate modality. Participants in all groups shifted boundary placement outward (boundary extension), but visual study yielded the greater error.

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