The mentalizing (theory of mind) system of the brain is probably in operation from ca. 18 months of age, allowing implicit attribution of intentions and other mental states. Between the ages of 4 and 6 years explicit mentalizing becomes possible, and from this age children are able to explain the misleading reasons that have given rise to a false belief. Neuroimaging studies of mentalizing have so far only been carried out in adults. They reveal a system with three components consistently activated during both implicit and explicit mentalizing tasks: medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), temporal poles and posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS). The functions of these components can be elucidated, to some extent, from their role in other tasks used in neuroimaging studies. Thus, the MPFC region is probably the basis of the decoupling mechanism that distinguishes mental state representations from physical state representations; the STS region is probably the basis of the detection of agency, and the temporal poles might be involved in access to social knowledge in the form of scripts. The activation of these components in concert appears to be critical to mentalizing.

/pdf/development-and-neurophysiology-of-mentalizing-3mxlcttihw.pdf

Development and neurophysiology of mentalizing.

Developing a capacity for organizational resilience through strategic human resource management

In an ever-more interconnected world (social, technological and environmental), no organisation can retain a competitive position and survive disruptions as an independent entity. This article provides a review of resilience literature in its widest context and later its application at an organisational level context. The origins of the concept are reported and consequently, the various fields of research are analysed. The concept is shown to remain essentially constant regardless of its field of enquiry and has much to inform the fields of organisation theory, strategy and operations management. This article identifies a number of areas for advancing resilience research, in particular: the relationship between human and organisational resilience; understanding interfaces between organisational and infrastructural resilience.

Resilience: the concept, a literature review and future directions

Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions

High fidelity simulation has become a popular technique for training teamwork skills in high risk industries such as aviation, health care, and nuclear power production. Simulation is a powerful training tool because it allows the trainer to systematically control the schedule of practice, presentation of feedback, and introduction (or suppression) of environmental distractions within a safe, controlled learning environment. Unfortunately, many within the training community have begun to use the terms simulation and high fidelity simulation almost synonymously. This is unfortunate because doing so overemphasises the instructional technology to the detriment of more substantive issues, such as the training's goals, content, and design. It also perpetuates several myths: simulation fidelity is unidimensional, or higher levels of simulation fidelity lead to increased training effectiveness. The authors propose a typology of simulation fidelity and provide examples of how the different classes of simulation have been successfully used to train teamwork skills in high risk industries. Guidelines are also provided to maximise the usefulness of simulation for training teamwork skills in health care.

https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/qhc/13/suppl_1/i51.full.pdf

The use of simulation for training teamwork skills in health care: how low can you go?

Many 21st century operations are characterised by teams of workers dealing with significant risks and complex technology, in competitive, commercially-driven environments. Informed managers in such sectors have realised the necessity of understanding the human dimension to their operations if they hope to improve production and safety performance. While organisational safety culture is a key determinant of workplace safety, it is also essential to focus on the non-technical skills of the system operators based at the 'sharp end' of the organisation. These skills are the cognitive and social skills required for efficient and safe operations, often termed Crew Resource Management (CRM) skills. In industries such as civil aviation, it has long been appreciated that the majority of accidents could have been prevented if better non-technical skills had been demonstrated by personnel operating and maintaining the system. As a result, the aviation industry has pioneered the development of CRM training. Many other organisations are now introducing non-technical skills training, most notably within the healthcare sector. Safety at the Sharp End is a general guide to the theory and practice of non-technical skills for safety. It covers the identification, training and evaluation of non-technical skills and has been written for use by individuals who are studying or training these skills on CRM and other safety or human factors courses. The material is also suitable for undergraduate and post-experience students studying human factors or industrial safety programmes.

Safety at the Sharp End: A Guide to Non-Technical Skills

After every emergency exercise or actual incident, reports are circulated that usually identify lessons that have been learned from the event. This paper identifies recurring themes from the lessons learned that can be widely applied across sectors. Typically, lessons are expressed in a form that is specific to the actual event that has transpired, the sector in which it has occurred, and the aims of the reporting organization. Reports relating to seven incidents that have occurred in the United Kingdom and internationally, from a range of sectors and with varying parameters, have been reviewed. It is concluded that organizations can become wiser by looking at incidents outside their own sector and by using these recurring themes to explore the resilience of their emergency plans. Recommendations are also made for best practices to improve the learning of lessons within organizations.

Enhancing Organizational Resilience Through Emergency Planning: Learnings from Cross‐Sectoral Lessons

There is growing recognition of the need to train non-technical skills, especially decision making, for emergency management in high reliability industries as well as in contained environments such as prisons. This article presents a training method, Tactical Decision Games, which appears to provide a good opportunity to practise the non-technical skills that would be required in the management of an emergency situation. Case studies from the UK nuclear power industry and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) illustrate the adaptability and general application of TDGs for training of emergency response teams in a range of operational settings.

Margaret Crichton

Papers

Safety at the Sharp End: A Guide to Non-Technical Skills

Enhancing Organizational Resilience Through Emergency Planning: Learnings from Cross‐Sectoral Lessons

Training Decision Makers – Tactical Decision Games

Training for emergency management: tactical decision games

Identifying and training non-technical skills of nuclear emergency response teams