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First, this is a real thing that your wetware does, and it behooves you to learn about it and prepare for it. Second, although during the process the "emotiona

First, this is a real thing that your wetware does, and it behooves you to learn about it and prepare for it. Second, although during the process the "emotional brain [amygdala] activity processes information milliseconds earlier than the rational brain, so in case of a match, the amygdala acts before any possible direction from the neocortex can be received", you can during non-emergency time reprogram the "immediate action plan" that the amygdala will enact during non-emergency time. - - - - E.g.: "adrenaline re-imprinting" is a thing. There are self-defense courses that literally reprogram your brain to have a more useful response! We often talk about "fight or flight" and omit the third typical response: "freeze". The formula is "fight or flight or freeze". In an adrenaline re-imprinting self-defense course you learn to change the response to an organized, coherent defensive manouver. It's so effective that people (attackers) are literally intimidated at a deep organic level. One's body knows that even a small woman in the throes of an adrenaline rush can kill with a single blow, just like in the movies, and no one sane will persist. Story time. I took one of these courses and it worked: I was about to be set upon by three young thugs and the defensive posture and response triggered and, sure enough, they halted, taken aback, and were thereafter wary of me. We talked for a bit and at one point I made a motion with my arm and the boys fell back and raised their arms to guard themselves. I tell you they were frightened of me, after seeing a full-on coherent adrenaline response! A few minutes later a police car rolled up to talk to them, I wasn't the first person they messed with that day, and I left. Anyhow, yes, amygdala goes first if it thinks it needs to, but it is your job to equip your amygdala with good programs for those emergencies. Same principle as buying a fire extinguisher, eh? Safety first and all that?

ryanianian 6y ago
> There are self-defense courses that literally reprogram your brain to have a more useful response! Is this a part of a martial art? What is the term for such training?
- bombcar 6y ago
  This is part of most (if not all martial arts) and other various "fighting" courses - it's part of the reason for what appears to be brainless repetition of certain moves, etc.
- carapace 6y ago
  I do not remember the exact course, it was a specific class offered by a martial arts studio but it wasn't part of their regular martial arts classes. I did a search for "adrenaline re-imprinting" and it looks like these folks are doing the same or something very similar: https://carpediemselfdefence.com/adrenal/ https://carpediemselfdefence.com/adrenal/ - - - - edit: replying to bombcar and phenkdo: This wasn't repetitive training, the whole class took only a few hours, we didn't learn fancy martial arts moves just a few very basic responses, the core of it was inducing controlled adrenaline rushes and then consciously responding in coherent ways which then (somehow) get "programmed" into the (?) amygdala to be activated automatically when the stimuli recur. In the later stages of the class a big guy puts on one of those bear-proof suits and comes at you. I saw small ladies beat the everlovin shit outta that bear-man. Like fractured or broken bones and concussions delivered (virtually! The guy in the suit just gets rattled.) The weird thing is you don't break your own bones. Adrenaline is a hellofa drug.
- phenkdo 6y ago
  AFAIK for conditioned reflexes (and most habits), the basal ganglia is responsible. The amygdala is the alarm center that kicks in for life/death situations. caveat: have cursory knowledge of neuroscience
- andromaton 5y ago
  This book covers this and adjacent topics very well https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9904173-facing-violence https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9904173-facing-violence
foxhop 6y ago
I've used the challenging freeze before where it seemed like I was deer in headlights but also guarded aware, capible and ready for both attack and defense because my unconscious saw sometbi g which triggered my alarms and so I was preparing mentally for the altercation real time as I absorbed more and more details of the altercation, sort of like slowing time. This subtle preparation of mind and body in location of space and time. You move between the attacker and your loved ones. You gaurd up, and prepare to deal with the matter at hand in the now, trying your best not to let emotions play into further escalations but knowing shit is about to go down. Seeing a person or animal go into offensive or defensive manuvering as if a switch was turned on is always an intimidating observation and thus you could disarm an attacker's momentum and allow for potential descalations. That said I've took a punch to the face sober from a slightly older drunk man because I was young and didn't understand he was in a different realm. Be careful with your freeze response and know yourself and your enemy. Freezing is a good response when a weapon is pulled because it gives a chance to descalation. Freezing yeild advantage to the attacker so keep in mind: you may be ambushed on a whim so minimize your time spent freezing. Think and perceive just enough to allow your mature conscious egoic mind to choose a path, for example: instead of taking a punch to the face, disarm the drunk before he has a chance by a quick shove and entering a defensive position you have practiced and rehearsed since a child. Shout, "what the fuck do you think you are doing", make noise and draw attention. You have to put into action your training during these situations so you don't get anyone killed, but you also have to be ready to kill.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
philwelch 6y ago
There’s a cliche that when you’re under real life stress, you fall back to your training. It’s a cliche for a reason. The whole purpose of training is to install these behavioral programs, whether in self defense or in a law enforcement or military context. I remember reading a comment on AskReddit from an Iraq veteran. They were clearing a house and walked past a stairway. He checks the stairway and there’s a guy pointing an RPG directly at him. Without even thinking, he shoots and kills the guy. This was his first real combat engagement, and he said he was kind of shocked that without any conscious thought his training just sort of took over. There’s another anecdote about the training thing. I forget where I heard it from, but the guy did lots of martial arts and knew the techniques to disarm someone attacking him with a knife. Anyway, this guy gets attacked with a knife, and his training just kicks in, and he successfully disarms the guy and takes the knife from him. And then—because this is what he does in training—he immediately handed the knife back to the guy, who stabbed him. That’s a pretty dire illustration of the point, I think, but people under stress can be extremely stupid exactly because they are executing whichever program got imprinted into their brain.

ryanianian 6y ago

> There are self-defense courses that literally reprogram your brain to have a more useful response! Is this a part of a martial art? What is the term for such training?

bombcar 6y ago
This is part of most (if not all martial arts) and other various "fighting" courses - it's part of the reason for what appears to be brainless repetition of certain moves, etc.
carapace 6y ago
I do not remember the exact course, it was a specific class offered by a martial arts studio but it wasn't part of their regular martial arts classes. I did a search for "adrenaline re-imprinting" and it looks like these folks are doing the same or something very similar: https://carpediemselfdefence.com/adrenal/ https://carpediemselfdefence.com/adrenal/ - - - - edit: replying to bombcar and phenkdo: This wasn't repetitive training, the whole class took only a few hours, we didn't learn fancy martial arts moves just a few very basic responses, the core of it was inducing controlled adrenaline rushes and then consciously responding in coherent ways which then (somehow) get "programmed" into the (?) amygdala to be activated automatically when the stimuli recur. In the later stages of the class a big guy puts on one of those bear-proof suits and comes at you. I saw small ladies beat the everlovin shit outta that bear-man. Like fractured or broken bones and concussions delivered (virtually! The guy in the suit just gets rattled.) The weird thing is you don't break your own bones. Adrenaline is a hellofa drug.
phenkdo 6y ago
AFAIK for conditioned reflexes (and most habits), the basal ganglia is responsible. The amygdala is the alarm center that kicks in for life/death situations. caveat: have cursory knowledge of neuroscience
andromaton 5y ago
This book covers this and adjacent topics very well https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9904173-facing-violence https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9904173-facing-violence

foxhop 6y ago

I've used the challenging freeze before where it seemed like I was deer in headlights but also guarded aware, capible and ready for both attack and defense because my unconscious saw sometbi g which triggered my alarms and so I was preparing mentally for the altercation real time as I absorbed more and more details of the altercation, sort of like slowing time. This subtle preparation of mind and body in location of space and time. You move between the attacker and your loved ones. You gaurd up, and prepare to deal with the matter at hand in the now, trying your best not to let emotions play into further escalations but knowing shit is about to go down. Seeing a person or animal go into offensive or defensive manuvering as if a switch was turned on is always an intimidating observation and thus you could disarm an attacker's momentum and allow for potential descalations. That said I've took a punch to the face sober from a slightly older drunk man because I was young and didn't understand he was in a different realm. Be careful with your freeze response and know yourself and your enemy. Freezing is a good response when a weapon is pulled because it gives a chance to descalation. Freezing yeild advantage to the attacker so keep in mind: you may be ambushed on a whim so minimize your time spent freezing. Think and perceive just enough to allow your mature conscious egoic mind to choose a path, for example: instead of taking a punch to the face, disarm the drunk before he has a chance by a quick shove and entering a defensive position you have practiced and rehearsed since a child. Shout, "what the fuck do you think you are doing", make noise and draw attention. You have to put into action your training during these situations so you don't get anyone killed, but you also have to be ready to kill.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

philwelch 6y ago

There’s a cliche that when you’re under real life stress, you fall back to your training. It’s a cliche for a reason. The whole purpose of training is to install these behavioral programs, whether in self defense or in a law enforcement or military context. I remember reading a comment on AskReddit from an Iraq veteran. They were clearing a house and walked past a stairway. He checks the stairway and there’s a guy pointing an RPG directly at him. Without even thinking, he shoots and kills the guy. This was his first real combat engagement, and he said he was kind of shocked that without any conscious thought his training just sort of took over. There’s another anecdote about the training thing. I forget where I heard it from, but the guy did lots of martial arts and knew the techniques to disarm someone attacking him with a knife. Anyway, this guy gets attacked with a knife, and his training just kicks in, and he successfully disarms the guy and takes the knife from him. And then—because this is what he does in training—he immediately handed the knife back to the guy, who stabbed him. That’s a pretty dire illustration of the point, I think, but people under stress can be extremely stupid exactly because they are executing whichever program got imprinted into their brain.