Your Amygdala, Frontal and Prefrontal Lobes, Rational and Emotional Decison Making
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Dr Ray
Oct 1, 2009, 3:25:55 PM10/1/09
to Mental Golf and Sport Psychology
We're emotional creatures, far more than we think.
Research using brain scans suggests virtually all personal decisions,
even simple decisions, such as what club to use on your next shot, are
made with emotional input, which brings up another important part of
mental golf; a portion of your brain called the amygdala.
The amygdala is basically a warehouse for every emotional experience
you've ever had. Suppose, as a child, you were scared by a barking
dog. Your amygdala keeps this experience in storage. Thus, a barking
dog may scare you today, even though the dog may be small, penned up
and chained. You experience fright even though the dog can't hurt
you. That's illogical and it's emotional.
Scientists have known for a long time, information flows into the
brain from various sources in the body. What's new is their discovery
of how this information is split.
One set of incoming signals goes directly to the amygdala or brain
structures within the relatively ancient limbic system. Another set
of sensory information goes to the frontal lobes responsible for
higher brain functions.
The frontal lobes carefully and slowly analyze and interpret
information coming to the area. This takes time, and that's why
frontal lobe responses can't always produce our first reaction. (One
part of the brain responds more rapidly than the other, yet they both
have the same information)
So - the "first response" comes from the amygdala, the brain's
emotional alarm center. The amygdala immediately compares new
information with old information and rapidly decides if the situation
is dangerous or attractive. The amygdala rapidly sets off specific
bodily responses, sometimes in the form of avoidance, sometimes in the
form of attraction.
Let's say you are on the golf course, teeing off on a hole where you
have sliced before. This can arouse fearful memories stored in your
amygdala.
This is where things get interesting and where the "prefontal lobes"
enter the scene. The prefrontal lobes are the most recent part of the
brain to evolve and play a crucial role in "moderating" emotional
reactivity. Here's how it works:
When the amygdala senses danger, it broadcasts a distress signal to
the entire brain. This triggers a series of physiological responses
such as speeded-up heart rate, heightened blood pressure, mobilized
muscles, release of the fight or flight hormones of adrenaline and
noradrenaline. But, this is only the beginning of the process.
This is when we experience fear, freezing and similar emotions and we
need to recognize how different each emotion can feel.
Tightened muscles and a sick sensation in the gut go with fear.
Learning to identify these kinds of physiological emergency signals is
important, because the moment you become aware of these specific
feelings, you can recognize them for what they are. But, keep in
mind, just because you have inner fear signals, doesn't mean you're
always in danger.
This is like being in a tournament and feeling anxious when there's no
real danger. The worst that can happen is you'll lose, certainly not
a life threatening situation.
Here's the major point: Even in the midst of an emotionally charged
situation, like teeing off in a major tournament, it's possible to
shift from a fearful, tense state, to a relaxed state. Your amygdala
doesn't have to dominate with a fear response.
Mental Golf and Sport Psychology involve learning how your brain works
and how emotions can play a significant role in decision making. You
want to be in control and this requires knowledge of what's actually
happening in your body and how your brain fits into the self-mastery
picture.
There is much more to this process and the above is but a start.
There is more to mental golf than positive thinking, course management
and a variety of other important issues.
CONSIDER THIS: How can you use use Soft Stomach Breathing to control
your alarm system to your best advantage? (Check out other Posts on
this Forum for the information you might need)
Dr. Ray
Research using brain scans suggests virtually all personal decisions,
even simple decisions, such as what club to use on your next shot, are
made with emotional input, which brings up another important part of
mental golf; a portion of your brain called the amygdala.
The amygdala is basically a warehouse for every emotional experience
you've ever had. Suppose, as a child, you were scared by a barking
dog. Your amygdala keeps this experience in storage. Thus, a barking
dog may scare you today, even though the dog may be small, penned up
and chained. You experience fright even though the dog can't hurt
you. That's illogical and it's emotional.
Scientists have known for a long time, information flows into the
brain from various sources in the body. What's new is their discovery
of how this information is split.
One set of incoming signals goes directly to the amygdala or brain
structures within the relatively ancient limbic system. Another set
of sensory information goes to the frontal lobes responsible for
higher brain functions.
The frontal lobes carefully and slowly analyze and interpret
information coming to the area. This takes time, and that's why
frontal lobe responses can't always produce our first reaction. (One
part of the brain responds more rapidly than the other, yet they both
have the same information)
So - the "first response" comes from the amygdala, the brain's
emotional alarm center. The amygdala immediately compares new
information with old information and rapidly decides if the situation
is dangerous or attractive. The amygdala rapidly sets off specific
bodily responses, sometimes in the form of avoidance, sometimes in the
form of attraction.
Let's say you are on the golf course, teeing off on a hole where you
have sliced before. This can arouse fearful memories stored in your
amygdala.
This is where things get interesting and where the "prefontal lobes"
enter the scene. The prefrontal lobes are the most recent part of the
brain to evolve and play a crucial role in "moderating" emotional
reactivity. Here's how it works:
When the amygdala senses danger, it broadcasts a distress signal to
the entire brain. This triggers a series of physiological responses
such as speeded-up heart rate, heightened blood pressure, mobilized
muscles, release of the fight or flight hormones of adrenaline and
noradrenaline. But, this is only the beginning of the process.
This is when we experience fear, freezing and similar emotions and we
need to recognize how different each emotion can feel.
Tightened muscles and a sick sensation in the gut go with fear.
Learning to identify these kinds of physiological emergency signals is
important, because the moment you become aware of these specific
feelings, you can recognize them for what they are. But, keep in
mind, just because you have inner fear signals, doesn't mean you're
always in danger.
This is like being in a tournament and feeling anxious when there's no
real danger. The worst that can happen is you'll lose, certainly not
a life threatening situation.
Here's the major point: Even in the midst of an emotionally charged
situation, like teeing off in a major tournament, it's possible to
shift from a fearful, tense state, to a relaxed state. Your amygdala
doesn't have to dominate with a fear response.
Mental Golf and Sport Psychology involve learning how your brain works
and how emotions can play a significant role in decision making. You
want to be in control and this requires knowledge of what's actually
happening in your body and how your brain fits into the self-mastery
picture.
There is much more to this process and the above is but a start.
There is more to mental golf than positive thinking, course management
and a variety of other important issues.
CONSIDER THIS: How can you use use Soft Stomach Breathing to control
your alarm system to your best advantage? (Check out other Posts on
this Forum for the information you might need)
Dr. Ray
Ed Rankin
Oct 1, 2009, 3:57:07 PM10/1/09
to TEEINGOFFWI...@googlegroups.com, Rick Davis
this is very good ray. thanks.
ed
Ed Rankin
214.803.6526 Wireless
--- On Thu, 10/1/09, Dr Ray <dr...@teeingoffwiththemasters.com> wrote: |
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