slacktide @
His research indicates that impairment can last for up to 30 secs following a strong startle event.
When you discuss research or complex engineering it would be necessary to share and discuss definitions first. That by itself is not simple thing in a forum format. In order to do it right I imagine that you would need a constant exchange of combinations of 'post+attachments'. Most research has a strict scope. So I sincerely wonder what your definition of "startle" is (how it combines with other effects). And it would be interesting to have a link to a public document of your Dr.
"Startle" basically suggests a 'short duration' experience/event. Your answer and that research does not seem to cover short and longer duration 'freezes'. And short and longer duration 'confusion'. Let alone other short, mid and long term effects.
Some of the other posters have shared and explained experiences that indicate that there is more than what you seem to suggest.
What strikes me in some posts on this thread is the absolute 100% conviction that some seem to reflect. I have been in situations where my life was directly threathened and also in situations where people got a heart attack while driving. In all cases I reacted very good ... did a number of the right things and did them right ... But what I saw around me made it clear to me that there is a lot of grey in between the black and white. And that when such a situation would happen again that I myself included and others should and could not expect to react in the same manner. I think that is what some of the posters appear to want to share. And the apparent or even clear rejection of that experience may explain some of their emotion.
We would all agree that training is at the least very important. But, I also note that there are things that can be improved by training but not to a 100% success. An interesting old example used to be research in the military. You train infantry soldiers with 100% heavy loads. But when they fired rounds over their heads they could only lift 50%. It is well researched that the body can take over. Elite soldiers are trained in more challenging and dangerous settings, so training helps a lot. But even elite soldiers die,both in training (even SAS) and in daily and combat ops. So no 100%. Planes are designed toward 100% safe but I never heard an experienced designer say that he is 100% sure.