OBJECTIVES Surgery is a domain in which naturalistic or dynamic decision making is often involved. In dynamic decision making, the goal is often to control a problem, instead of devising an optimal response. In the case of an adverse event, like other professionals, surgeons adopt decisions after a quick mental calculation of the degree of risk/time. If there is little time, the decision is based on fast intuitive or rule-based factors. In other words, The fastintuitive decisions are a type of affect heuristic, in which emotional response, plays a lead role. It is a subconscious process that shortens the decision-making process and allows people to function without having to complete an extensive search for information. In this kind of decision making, only one response option is available at a time, and this response is primarily based on previous experiences, stored as memories. Since previous experiences are the ones that dictate the behavior, novice surgeons rarely use it, since they do not possess the necessary experience of relevant events. Rule-based decision making involves identifying the situation and respond by using a reference from some authority. Unlike intuitive decision making, this requires mental effort, since the individual has to recall the matching rule for the event and implement it. With time, in repetitive situations, the rule-based becomes intuitive. However, this kind of rapid response is not always a good one, and this strategy ends up disadvantaging the patient. In this study, we perform a review of pertinent literature regarding strategy and decision making and try to show how by applying some cognitive training, the response to adverse events, which require quick action, can be dramatically improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]