Publication date: 2010-02-05
The final scene at the end of Sergio Leone’s epic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly features thousands of tombstones surrounding three duelling men. The bad guy is the first to reach for his pistol. The second guy, it turns out, is without bullets. But it’s the hero, played by Clint Eastwood, who remains standing – alive and healthy.
The adage ‘Never be the first to draw’, inspired by Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr and validated in many movies, has now been proven by researchers at the University of Birmingham. Or kind of.
They staged ‘laboratory gunfights’ and found that reactive movements are indeed swifter than the equivalent proactive ones.
Researchers set up a competition between two laboratory gunslingers, who were challenged to press a row of buttons faster than their opponent. The test subjects had to rely on their intention to move or react. On average, the participant who reacted to his opponent moved 21 milliseconds faster.
Dr Andrew Welchman, who led the team, said the findings could have implications for people with Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a degenerate disorder of the central nervous system that impairs motor skills, speech and other functions. Those who suffer from it find intentional actions more difficult to execute than reactive actions. The researchers believe that there may be two different brain functions that operate for each of the two types of action. If this is the case, then it could lead to the development of new strategies to ease movements in patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Dr Welchman, however, debunks the ‘first-draw’ adage in the classical gunslinger myth. He says that while the movement of those who react are 21 milliseconds faster, it takes the brain 200 milliseconds to respond to what the opponent is doing.
In other words, many a white hat-wearing good guy could have been laying in the street while the proactive bad guy gets to walk away.
Desde: European Commission : CORDIS : CORDIS Express : Finally and Briefly….
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Con la crisis económica, contar con un vehículo para cada miembro de la familia resulta un lujo que muy pocos hogares pueden permitirse, por no hablar de las consecuencias ambientales. La alternativa de buscar personas con quienes compartir el coche en los trayectos habituales o incluso para viajes largos hace tiempo que existe en muchas ciudades, pero con la recesión se ha extendido este hábito, también con iniciativas empresariales de alquiler por horas.
La firma alavesa 
