Why is rational and difficult to control our behavior? Let’s first understand the operating mode of the brain
3 three brains
From an evolutionary perspective, we humans actually have three brains: they are crawler brain , mammalian brain (also known as emotional brain) and brain neocortex (also known as intellectual brain) .
Among them, the crawler brain controls our basic functions of breathing, heartbeat, endocrine, digestion, immunity, etc. In daily life, it is difficult for us to detect its existence. Our consciousness is controlled by the emotional brain and the intellectual brain. Therefore, we will mainly understand these two brains.
In terms of role division, emotional brain dominates our feeling system, allowing us to experience various emotional experiences, such as fear, anger, surprise, joy, etc. ; while rational brain is responsible for controlling our cognitive functions, including language comprehension, attention, judgment, learning, memory, reasoning, planning, control, interpersonal communication, etc.
At the conscious level, the rational brain and the emotional brain are and play a role.
On the one hand, rational brain can control emotional brain , such as the ability to suppress feelings and behaviors that are crucial to individuals. What the rational brain has is an important "brake" mechanism . Stanford University researchers found in brain imaging research that when students see nausea pictures, their emotional brains will react immediately: but if students are asked to consciously control their emotions, the images will immediately show that their brain neocortex becomes the most active part, and students' aversion reactions will decrease accordingly.
Therefore, the rational brain can adjust cognition and exercise processes to play the role of in changing feelings or preventing behavioral execution, such as , such as , motion inhibition, resistance to temptation, delay satisfaction and impulse control , etc.
If the rational brain cannot initiate the behavioral suppression process normally, people will face symptoms such as impulse, compulsion and attention deficits .
needs to be emphasized that the call of the rational brain requires the cooperation of our attention and willpower .
Similarly, the emotional brain can also affect the rational brain. In life, the "behavior out of control" phenomenon that we often see is that emotional brain suppresses the functions of the rational brain.
Twenty years ago, Dr. Anston and Trisia Goman-Rachick of Hyle University first explained in an animal experiment: the emotional brain can turn off the prefrontal cortex of , and makes it lose the ability to respond and control behavior.
Subsequently, these studies gradually extended to humans. The study found that under stress, the amygdala , which controls emotions, will cause excessive generation of 3 dopamine and norepinephrine , which will cause to lose function in the prefrontal cortex, which controls advanced cognitive functions.
In fact, when emotions are too strong, we will find that we cannot control ourselves at all and cannot perform long-term and beneficial rational behaviors, and will present an emotional or irrational psychological state. In daily life, non-adaptive behaviors such as anger, attack, addiction, etc., then, since the rational brain can control the emotional brain, can we use the rational brain more, or simply use the rational brain?
brain two working modes
Our brain has two working modes: automatic navigation and rational control.
The so-called automatic navigation refers to the face of various challenges and we respond based on habits.
such as walking, driving, recognizing the way, exercising, etc. Behind the automatic navigation behavior is the fixed neuron connection circuit in the brain, which automatically responds without thinking. Reason control is exactly the opposite of automatic navigation. We act through conscious thinking, analysis, judgment, decision-making, and execution.
Some studies believe that the brain will call the automatic navigation mode for 90% of the time in daily life; while the rational control mode will be adopted less than 10% of the time. This is an evolutionary brain working mechanism and is one of the excellent adaptive instincts of human beings, because the brain is a high-energy-consuming organization.
A large number of research data show that although the total mass of our brain is about 1400 grams, accounting for only 2% to 3% of the individual's weight, the energy consumption accounts for a very high proportion: its oxygen consumption reaches the 25% of the whole body oxygen consumption, blood flow accounts for 15% of the heart's blood output, and the body needs glucose of the total 20% is consumed by brain cells. The high energy consumption characteristics of
determine that the working mechanism of the brain must be more economical and relies more on the automatic navigation mode than on the rational control mode.
In fact, some studies believe that automatic navigation ability determines whether we can become experts in a certain field.
In 2014, Swiss "Frontier Human Neuroscience" magazine published a research report by Japanese neuroscience experts. MRI shows: The Brazilian talented football player Neymar is good at breaking through, has a 10% lower frequency of brain activity than amateur players when dribbling, surpassing people. Neurologist Eiichi Naito, a researcher at Japan's national information and communication technology, believes that this is the result of automatic brain navigation. "Reduced brain activity means smaller brain operation load, which allows players to complete many complex actions at once. We believe that this allows Neymar to perform complex fake actions."
Here, the brain's automatic navigation ability becomes a sign of distinguishing between genius or not. A study in the UK verified the value of automatic navigation capabilities from another perspective.
In London, it is difficult to become a taxi driver: it takes more than two years to memorize the layout of 25,000 roads in the city before you can get a license. As early as around 2000, brain neuroscientists discovered that London taxi drivers’ brains were different from ordinary people: the back of their brains was a region responsible for memory space, which was larger than the control group and had more developed neuronal connections. Scientists want to understand through research that this gap is born or emerges after training? For individuals, what does this gap mean?
Whether it is Neymar's brain activity research or London taxi driver brain imaging research, they all focus on point: In the two modes, the rational navigation mode that training depends on will change the brain structure and improve automatic navigation capabilities. Whether rational navigation can be successfully transformed into automatic navigation ability under corresponding stimuli will directly determine our professional ability and performance level.
From conscious reaction to unconscious reaction, this is the process of our adaptation to the world and improving our abilities.
Why we often "know... but can't..." is here: the brain is more accustomed to automatic navigation, and the call of the rational brain requires a lot of resources to support it, so it cannot dominate everything independently.
