The Amygdala Hijack and more

[Seamus]

Thanks, Laura, for the link to a fascinating lecture.

He discussed the story about the lawyer who had brain surgery to remove a tumor in his frontal lobe. The lawyer later tested perfectly fine on all known psychological tests, but his life fell apart because his amygdala couldn't properly communicate with his pre-frontal cortex -- he couldn't regulate his emotional responses anymore. It almost sounded like this lawyer was surgically made (by accident) into a psychopath of sorts, or something close to that. Actually, I'm not sure if 'psychopath' is the best term to describe this lawyer after his surgery though, because the lawyer still had enough self-awareness to realize something was wrong with him (psychopaths don't have this ability AFAIK). This man had lived all his life with the ability to regulate his emotions and suddenly this function was turned off. That's kind of scary actually!

My take on the lawyer's predicament was in terms of intelligence being the ability to feel what you are reasoning. For the lawyer, whose IQ remained at the pre-surgery level, his emotional quotient plummeted. The lawyer was unable to access his amygdala and thus was unable to have any emotional connection to different times for the appointments. Every single time looked exactly the same as every other and so he was unable to make a decision. Normally a certain degree of feeling enters into our decision-making, even for something as simple as an appointment (at least it does for me!!).

This was my take on the lawyer's problem as well.

One thing I thought was interesting was his comment at the beginning about how just watching his lecture would not make a person more emotionally intelligent.

In part, I agree, I think some of those brain circuits he describes are more or less set in people from an early age. I think that's the whole point of the Work: is that it takes a lot of 'work' to change from being a reaction machine, running from one Amygdala hijack to another, to a machine functioning at a higher level.

But I think he contradicts himself later on when he mentions the information about meditation and how it strengthens the left-brain circuits that allow for the calm processing of emotions. So, he actually does give some practical advise at boosting one's emotional intelligence, OSIT.

I think I took in a lot of information in an hour, but I disagree with you when you say he contradicts himself. He is "showing the horse to water" so to speak by mentioning the effects of meditation, but he also says that the study began to notice the effects of meditation after 8 weeks, so there is work involved. The information he presents is not enough to make a person more emotionally intelligent, each person must work out their own liberation.

I found his discussion of the amygdala hijacking especially useful. Strong emotions feel like quicksand, both positive and negative emotions. I found myself really nodding my head when he was describing the "tunnel vision" or narrowing of focus that it causes. Knowing the mechanics behind it, understanding what is going on in my head when "I am upset" or identifying with an emotion is very helpful. It points to the way out.

Knowing the role of the basal ganglia is interesting as well. This "gut feeling" that it gives you could be right, or it could be wrong because it is based on past emotional feedback and programming. This is the Blink effect.

The discussion at the end about the effects of meditation, and the interaction between the monk and the professor was encouraging. The calm equanimity that comes from meditation practice is contagious! This is the antidote for "rabble rousing" and ponerology, is it not? This contagious calming effect is something I have noticed as well, but at this point it seems like my left prefrontal cortex is like a battery that gets drained. I have to meditate every day, sometimes several times per day to keep the battery charged up, and sometimes even then it gets overwhelmed.

This kind of information is especially useful, IMO, because it helps to demystify our every day experience of emotions and "gut feelings". Learning about and working to understand how the brain works is helpful when struggling to recognize behavioral patterns while they are happening and to "break the spell" of emotional response. Thank you for sharing this.

 

[happyliza]

Thank you for this information.

I found it particularly helpful because the language is more up to date and also gives us another perspective re the effects in our bodies. Very insightful and something I knew nothing about before.

I also found all the articles on the vegus nerve (on the EE site) incredibly informative together with the illustrations of just how vital it is to be aware about the vegus nerve and how to stimulate it productively. Both are essential to our work as you say. Plus the many more benefits of meditation that are not common knowledge.

Was intrigued also to note scientists again stressing how nicotine can help in many ways too!

Am currently in the very same position where thought processes are hijacked and energy wasted leaving less available for the Work. However I do find that my daily study of reading and being on the forums helps to focus my mind and in itself becomes a form of mental calming. The joy of learning to 'know' helps to keep my thoughts positive while at the same time being a continual reminder of the Work to be done - self remembering.

Everyone's comments were helpful too. Thanks.

Has anyone studied his books? Should his book be added to our book list? If so I will order it if he goes into more depth and examples from his lecture.

 

[Paragon]

Thanks for the video, very intriguing!

I found the part about the social brain interesting in particular,because he talks about it being on a subconscious, automatic level when you interact with people. I've always been very self conscious of my interactions with people in my life and I notice how one day i can be very scared to say something because I am so focused on how I sound and what that person might think of me and how I look and act to them, and thus I don't interact very well. And this occurs almost always in stop and chat situations where you bump into someone unexpectedly as well as at work with the public.

Then the next day I am 'flowing' very well with my customers and the rapport is good and it just comes out naturally. But then sometimes I run out of flow and i freeze and i suddenly become very self conscious and I start acting very clumsily and stuff.

The point I'm trying to make is that in the context of the work, don't you need to be self aware of what is going on, rather than running on automatic , letting the social brain do its work? Or maybe there is an optimum balance between being self aware enough to see where the conversation is going and letting our automatic social brain handle the actual saying of words?

Hopefully I'm making sense Here! :)

 

[Gimpy]

Thanks, Laura, for the link to a fascinating lecture.

He discussed the story about the lawyer who had brain surgery to remove a tumor in his frontal lobe. The lawyer later tested perfectly fine on all known psychological tests, but his life fell apart because his amygdala couldn't properly communicate with his pre-frontal cortex -- he couldn't regulate his emotional responses anymore. It almost sounded like this lawyer was surgically made (by accident) into a psychopath of sorts, or something close to that. Actually, I'm not sure if 'psychopath' is the best term to describe this lawyer after his surgery though, because the lawyer still had enough self-awareness to realize something was wrong with him (psychopaths don't have this ability AFAIK). This man had lived all his life with the ability to regulate his emotions and suddenly this function was turned off. That's kind of scary actually!

My take on the lawyer's predicament was in terms of intelligence being the ability to feel what you are reasoning. For the lawyer, whose IQ remained at the pre-surgery level, his emotional quotient plummeted. The lawyer was unable to access his amygdala and thus was unable to have any emotional connection to different times for the appointments. Every single time looked exactly the same as every other and so he was unable to make a decision. Normally a certain degree of feeling enters into our decision-making, even for something as simple as an appointment (at least it does for me!!).

Interesting. Listening to the explanation, what I heard was the lawyer was just as smart as he was prior to surgery, but he could no longer tell the difference between what was important and what wasn't. He had no sense of urgency or time passing....without the finer emotions. In trying to figure that out, he would become confused/disoriented.

This is possibly projection on my part....according to MRI scans, I've got scarring deep in the mid brain, and spread throughout the upper lobes. While it can be statistical...meaning the scarring doesn't affect function much....I do notice a problem with urgency and what is important, and don't always have a sense of time passing, or 'deadlines'. Its a subtle thing, but all my life, I've been punctual. When I say I'm going to do something, I do it. Over the course of this disease, that's slid away a bit at a time, and when I have moments of clarity I try to do as much as I can against the moment its gone again.

For example: I've had a note on my computer to sign up for the EE forum for a very long time. But it was only yesterday that I did so. In my mind, there is a sense that the forum has been around a while, but nothing but a vague unease telling me that its important to remember it and sign up...and this is after being asked to post there by different people.

It scares me....and I wonder if I can make any difference at all for the Fellowship....but I won't stop Working or doing EE....it may be all I CAN do...this talk gave me a ray of hope that meditating will help 'work around' some of this damage.

Its tough to discuss this, but its better to be open about it than not. :)

 

[ana]

Thanks for the video, very intriguing!

I found the part about the social brain interesting in particular,because he talks about it being on a subconscious, automatic level when you interact with people. I've always been very self conscious of my interactions with people in my life and I notice how one day i can be very scared to say something because I am so focused on how I sound and what that person might think of me and how I look and act to them, and thus I don't interact very well. And this occurs almost always in stop and chat situations where you bump into someone unexpectedly as well as at work with the public.

Then the next day I am 'flowing' very well with my customers and the rapport is good and it just comes out naturally. But then sometimes I run out of flow and i freeze and i suddenly become very self conscious and I start acting very clumsily and stuff.

The point I'm trying to make is that in the context of the work, don't you need to be self aware of what is going on, rather than running on automatic , letting the social brain do its work? Or maybe there is an optimum balance between being self aware enough to see where the conversation is going and letting our automatic social brain handle the actual saying of words?

Hopefully I'm making sense Here! :)

What I have understood is that He call "flowing" to a state of active consciousness, becoming aware. In this state we become active part of the internal processes deciding what to do with our emotions.

So you are flowing when you are here and now, aware of the inner and outer world and it is the first step to become emotionally inteligent, osit.

 

[truth seeker]

It scares me....and I wonder if I can make any difference at all for the Fellowship....but I won't stop Working or doing EE....it may be all I CAN do...this talk gave me a ray of hope that meditating will help 'work around' some of this damage.

I would say that you can make a difference and most likely have already without your even realizing it. As Ana says above, I think the key difference is that the person have some kind of self awareness. Perhaps I'm completely off, but I think that what separates us from sts is having the self awareness that comes with being an individualized soul as opposed to a soul group. This (individualized soul/self awareness), to me, is crucial in determining whether or not meditation can be useful or not.

The fact that you have been able to overcome it at times says to me that you'll be able to continue if you choose to. I think many if not all of us experience what you described from time to time and also wonder what, if any difference we can make. Be gentle with yourself and if you want/need to, keep networking with us about it. :)

 

[Gimpy]

It scares me....and I wonder if I can make any difference at all for the Fellowship....but I won't stop Working or doing EE....it may be all I CAN do...this talk gave me a ray of hope that meditating will help 'work around' some of this damage.

I would say that you can make a difference and most likely have already without your even realizing it. As Ana says above, I think the key difference is that the person have some kind of self awareness. Perhaps I'm completely off, but I think that what separates us from sts is having the self awareness that comes with being an individualized soul as opposed to a soul group. This (individualized soul/self awareness), to me, is crucial in determining whether or not meditation can be useful or not.

The fact that you have been able to overcome it at times says to me that you'll be able to continue if you choose to. I think many if not all of us experience what you described from time to time and also wonder what, if any difference we can make. Be gentle with yourself and if you want/need to, keep networking with us about it. :)

Thank you!

 

[The Mechanic]

Thanks Laura, for suggesting a fascinating lecture.

<snip>
The discussion at the end about the effects of meditation, and the interaction between the monk and the professor was encouraging. The calm equanimity that comes from meditation practice is contagious! This is the antidote for "rabble rousing" and ponerology, is it not? This contagious calming effect is something I have noticed as well, but at this point it seems like my left prefrontal cortex is like a battery that gets drained. I have to meditate every day, sometimes several times per day to keep the battery charged up, and sometimes even then it gets overwhelmed.
<snip>

This was a real eye opener for me. If this true, which I presume it is, the benefits of meditation are even greater than I thought. I'll keep on doing it :)

 

[Keit]

Public sector organizational politics promote stress, further emotional disconnect and ponerisation?

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/220301-Bureaucracy-and-compartmentalization-chokes-creative-communication-flow-Emotional-intelligence-private-sector-vs-public-sector

Also, thanks for the lecture! Excellent stuff.

 

[Iron]

It scares me....and I wonder if I can make any difference at all for the Fellowship....but I won't stop Working or doing EE....it may be all I CAN do...this talk gave me a ray of hope that meditating will help 'work around' some of this damage.

I would say that you can make a difference and most likely have already without your even realizing it. As Ana says above, I think the key difference is that the person have some kind of self awareness. Perhaps I'm completely off, but I think that what separates us from sts is having the self awareness that comes with being an individualized soul as opposed to a soul group. This (individualized soul/self awareness), to me, is crucial in determining whether or not meditation can be useful or not.

The fact that you have been able to overcome it at times says to me that you'll be able to continue if you choose to. I think many if not all of us experience what you described from time to time and also wonder what, if any difference we can make. Be gentle with yourself and if you want/need to, keep networking with us about it. :)

I wonder, on another note, if this group mind aspect of people more closely aligned with STS 3D existence can account as why I tend to see the same kinds of dramas around me, only with different actors.

The video was very intersting, Daniel Goleman is an amazing speaker.
And truly it helps to see a concept in a different angle... somehow it eases the process of learning I guess.

 

[Ageeva]

Thanks Laura, for suggesting a fascinating lecture.

<snip>
The discussion at the end about the effects of meditation, and the interaction between the monk and the professor was encouraging. The calm equanimity that comes from meditation practice is contagious! This is the antidote for "rabble rousing" and ponerology, is it not? This contagious calming effect is something I have noticed as well, but at this point it seems like my left prefrontal cortex is like a battery that gets drained. I have to meditate every day, sometimes several times per day to keep the battery charged up, and sometimes even then it gets overwhelmed.
<snip>

This was a real eye opener for me. If this true, which I presume it is, the benefits of meditation are even greater than I thought. I'll keep on doing it :)

I've just watched the lecture and I agree it is fascinating knowledge in how different parts of the brain affect our decision making and social interaction. I found myself nodding in recognition of my own amygdala hijacks and how self awareness and meditation can counter them. Thanks for bringing this to our attention :)

 

[Infiniteness]

Thanks for the video Laura, a must see indeed.

 

[rrraven]

found this''Ancient Temple Architects May Have Been Chasing a Buzz From Sound Waves''
--http://viewzone2.com/archeosoundx.html
and remembered this thread

A consortium called The PEAR Proposition: Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research are pioneers in the field of archaeo-acoustics, merging archaeology and sound science. Directed by Physicist Dr. Robert Jahn, the PEAR group set out in 1994 to test acoustic behavior in megalithic sites such as Newgrange and Wayland's Smithy in the UK. They found that the ancient chambers all sustained a strong resonance at a sound frequency between 95 and 120 hertz: well within the range of a low male voice.

In subsequent OTSF testing, stone rooms in ancient temples in Malta were found to match the same pattern of resonance, registering at the frequency of 110 or 111 hz. This turns out to be a significant level

for the human brain. Whether it was deliberate or not, the people who spent time in such an environment were exposing themselves to vibrations that impacted their minds.

Sound scientist, Prof. Daniel Talma of the University of Malta explains: "At certain frequencies you have standing waves that emphasize each and other waves that de-emphasize each other. The idea that it was used thousands of years ago to create a certain trance -- that’s what fascinates me."

Dr. Ian A. Cook of UCLA and colleagues published findings in 2008 of an experiment in which regional brain activity in a number of healthy volunteers was monitored by EEG through different resonance frequencies.

Findings indicated that at 110 hz the patterns of activity over the prefrontal cortex abruptly shifted, resulting in a relative deactivation of the language center and a temporary switching from left to right-sided dominance related to emotional processing. People regularly exposed to resonant sound in the frequency of 110 or 111 hz would have been "turning on" an area of the brain that bio-behavioral scientists believe relates to mood, empathy and social behavior.​

did I/they get that right? the 110hz can shift you abruptly from left to right-sided dominance ?
I thought the left was the ''good'' side and the aim of meditation is to shift to the left prefrontal cortex​

 

[3DStudent]

That's interesting rrraven. It reminds me of binaural beats; and I wonder if you could stimulate that same part using them. As to what side is "better", it's my understanding that we are mostly left brained as humans, so our right brain would be a good thing to work more on. I'm basing this on the fact that in 4th Way terms, our emotional center doesn't work really well and our intellectual center is a little better.

 

[obyvatel]

This topic of acoustics and architecture of temples etc has been discussed in these threads
Listening to Sacred Places
Ancient Temple Architects May Have Been Chasing a Buzz From Sound Waves