A Brief History of Now
The problem of the pre-frontal cortex and Tachypsychia.
By Andy Pearce
If
If is the most important word in the English language.
If is that thought which allows us to know the unknowable.
If allows you to perceive the un-seeable,
Open the undiscovered door; and search for the face of God.
How soon is now? When exactly are you reading this? Is it when the photons of light that strike the screen or the paper, reflect into the cones and rods of your eyes? Or is it when you perceive the words in their proper order to have meaning other than just random lines? Perhaps it is after you have reflected on what is being said in the context of this sentence? When exactly is right now?
In ancient times it was said that people lived by reflex. They did not question their environment but simply lived. Did they live in the now?
There is a specific period of time, which occurs between the time we perceive something with our senses, and it is filtered through our pre-frontal cortex, fired off to the correct synapses and then filed away as unimportant or life threatening.
On the television show “Real TV”, I watched a large man pick up a fallen helicopter with someone trapped inside it. The helicopter had crashed in the water and the pilot was underneath the helicopter under the water. Time was of the essence. The big man stood in the mud and lifted the helicopter. Even as I saw it with my own eyes, it didn’t look possible. Now mind you, it was just a small aircraft (Bell 47G, if I remember correctly), and he didn’t lift it over his head, but he just rolled it enough for the trapped pilot to be pulled out. Still, this is looked like something that shouldn’t be possible.
Bell 47G-5
Weight (empty): 749 kg (1,650 lbs.)
Max weight: 1294 kg (2,850 lbs.)
http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/Exhibits/AirAndSpace/AirAndAircraft/Bell47G5/Bell47G5.php
After observing the tape again the man was shown lifting from the doorframe of the aircraft. The Load bearing member should not have supported the weight. Also the gentleman lifting the helicopter should not have been able to life the weight as his feet should have sunk into the mud of the marsh.
Expression of human maximal strength is a function of several factors. Notably
A. Structural factors
• Cross sectional area of contractile elements of the muscle fiber
• Proportions of myosin heavy chains of type I, Imia, IIx in the muscle
• Potentially, the activity level of several enzymes (although this is much more important in
Displaying, maximal power in a specific bio-energetic regime then in max-strength display)
B. Neural factors
• Level of activation of motor cortex, CNS drive to motoneurons, neural strategy choose for requirement (strategy used for motor control, to explain it in a easy to get way, it basically means that all other factors being the same, you can display more strength in a
Movement, which is “learned” very well.
• Number of motor units recruited, rate coding, synchronization
• Intramuscular coordination (linked to motor control strategies, probably the most determinant neural factor which affects expression of strength
• Decreased antagonist muscles co-activation
• Level of inhibition provided by Golgi tendon organs
• Bilateral deficit / bilateral facilitation in bilateral work (as for example curling a barbell with both hands as opposed curling 1 dumbbell with 1 arm at a time
Now, given those factors and the fact that strength is produced by the contractile elements in the muscle we can logically think that
a) There is a maximum torque about a joint a muscle of a certain cross-sectional area and with a certain MHC composition can produce. Theoretically it is produced when all fibers
Are recruited at the same time, in perfect synchronization, at maximal rate coding.
b) An untrained human will be only able to display a certain percentage of this maximal theoretical strength in most movements. Poor motor control, poor muscular synchronization,
Very high levels of inhibition from Gatos, poor motivation (most ppl I know would not be very motivated to put even a modest weight on their shoulders and try to squat with it. They must “learn” they came.
In a life and death situation some things may/will change. The level of activation of motor cortex may become much more close to the one of a trained athlete. Motivation to survive / save a life is much more powerful than dragging your *** to gym and dead lift something) the brain may decide to use a neural strategy which it would not use normally. GTOs may be inhibited, preventing them to act as a safeguard against too much tension in the muscle.
The result is that the subject of this unfortunate event can now express a much higher percentage of strength than before, in rapport to the maximum theoretical strength his muscles are structurally capable of. More often than not (when neural “safeguards” are off), this will also result in serious injuries to the muscular-skeletal system. So it’s kind of one-way
All bets are one a single number now.
Superhuman strength? No. Expression of strength levels way over what the untrained person can display usually? Yes
Take what was written and learn from it. Think and make your own mind. If you have questions ask. See how it fits with your observations. If you seek proofs and theorems in human performance field I’m afraid you are in a wrong direction for now.
This isn’t math. Only mathematical theorems can be proved. What I can offer you is a potential mechanism for the phenomena.
Its up to you if you wish to pursue the idea further, or discard it as rubbish.
Besides, limits where indirectly specified in:
There is a maximum torque about a joint a muscle of a certain cross-sectional area and with a certain MHC composition can produce. Theoretically it is produced when all fibers
Are recruited at the same time, in perfect synchronization, at maximal rate coding.
So that is the science of the human strength part of the equation but that still leaves us with the coefficient of friction problem of the surface upon which this force is acting.
Theory:
Time and Gravity have a specific juxtaposed relationship. With Gravity being the constant and time being a function of Gravity.
Time dilation is a phenomenon (or two phenomena, as mentioned below) described by the theory of relativity. It can be illustrated by supposing that two observers are in motion relative to each other, and/or differently situated with regard to nearby gravitational masses. They each carry a clock of identical construction and function. Then, the point of view of each observer will generally be that the other observer’s clock is in error (has changed its rate).
Both causes (distance to gravitational mass and relative speed) can operate together.
The Time/ Gravity relationship re-imagined
Time equals the distance of the ratio of the wave in a cycle of motion of matter. Ergo, time is the distance matter moves in opposition to gravity. Gravity is the constant against which matter is pulled resulting in time. Time is the end result of motion in opposition to gravity, which is a constant. The force in opposition to gravity by motion results in the creation of time. As matter oscillates it pushes away from gravity and creates the phenomenon we call time. Put simply, time is the difference in what is and what will be. If this is true then, time could exist simultaneously at differing frequency of relative motion of particles. If everything were existent in this dimension at the same frequency; where would matter go if it slowed or sped up its rate of motion? It could no longer interact with material in this dimension or time but would begin to exist at another dimension or time. (Time engine or Gravity engine? Which is more correct?) Experiential relativity? This day seems to have gone on forever? Time Flies when you are having fun?
A Possible relationship?
The energy spectrum of neutrino-induced upward-going muons in MACRO has been analysed in terms of relativity principles violating effects, keeping standard mass-induced atmospheric neutrino oscillations as the dominant source of νμ→ντ transitions. The data disfavor these exotic possibilities even at a subdominant level, and stringent 90% C.L. limits are placed on the Lorentz invariance violation parameter |Δv|<6×10−24 at sin2θv=0 and |Δv|<2.5–5×10−26 at sin2θv=±1. These limits can also be re-interpreted as upper bounds on the parameters describing violation of the equivalence principle.
G. Battistonia, Y. Becherinib, S. Cecchinib, c, M. Cozzib, H. Dekhissib, d, L.S. Espositob, G. Giacomellib,M. Giorginib, G. Mandriolib, S. Manzoorb, e, A. Margiottab, L. Patriziib, V. Popab, f, M. Siolib, , , , G. Sirrib, M. Spuriob and V. Togob aINFN Sezione di Milano, I-20133 Milano, Italy
bDipartimento di Fisica dell'Università di Bologna and INFN, I-40127 Bologna, Italy
cINAF-IASF Sezione di Bologna, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
dFacultè des Sciences, Universitè Mohamed Ier, Oujda, Morocco
eRPD, PINSTECH, P.O. Nilore, Islamabad, Pakistan
fInstitute for Space Sciences, R77125 Bucharest, Romania
Received 7 March 2005; revised 5 April 2005; accepted 6 April 2005. Editor: L. Rolandi. Available online 13 April 2005
Definition and Critical Analysis:
Tachypsychia (literally: the speed of the mind): the distortion of perceived time. In a life-or-death situation, the mind kicks into overdrive and transfers into the sub-conscious (which operates much faster than the conscious) so your perception of time becomes altered. This causes the observation that things are happening in slow motion (a.k.a “Bullet Time”), even though you (and your opponent) are probably moving faster than you ever have. Tachypsychia can also work in reverse (“It all happened so fast”). Observations have been made that the more experienced and highly trained a person is, the more likely that person is to experience tachypsychia. That is, a person who knows that “trouble happens” is less likely to be surprised by it, and more likely to respond with super-heightened awareness.
Tachypsychia is a neurological condition that alters the perception of time, usually induced by physical exertion, drug use, or a traumatic event. Martial arts instructors and self-defense experts sometimes incorrectly refer it to as the Tacky Psyche effect. For someone affected by tachypsychia, time perceived by the individual either lengthens, making events appear to slow down, or contracts, objects appearing as moving in a speeding blur. It is believed that tachypsychia is induced by a combination of high levels of dopamine and nor epinephrine, usually during periods of great physical stress and/or in violent confrontation.
Adrenaline response
Upon being stimulated by fear or anger, the adrenal medulla may automatically produce the hormone epinephrine (aka adrenaline) directly into the blood stream. This can have various effects on various bodily systems, including:
Increased heart rate and blood pressure. It is common for a tachypsychia subject’s pulse to rise to between 200 and 300 beats per minute (bpm). Increased heart rate (above 250 bpm) can cause fainting, and the body may adduct all limbs, adopting fetal position, in preparation for a coma.
Dilation of the bronchial passages, permitting higher absorption of oxygen.
Dilated pupils to allow more light to enter, and visual exclusion—tunnel vision—occurs, allowing greater focus but resulting in the loss of peripheral vision.
Release of glucose into the bloodstream, generating extra energy by raising the blood sugar level.
It is common for an individual to experience auditory exclusion or sensitivity. It is also common for individuals to experience an increased pain tolerance, loss of color vision, short term memory loss, decreased fine motor skills, decreased communication skills, or decreased coordination.
Psychological response
The most common experience during tachypsychia is the feeling that time has either increased or slowed down, brought on by the increased brain activity cause by epinephrine, or the severe decrease in brain activity caused by the “catecholamine washout” occurring after the event.
It is common for an individual experiencing tachypsychia to have serious misinterpretations of their surroundings during the events, through a combination of their altered perception of time, as well as transient partial color blindness and tunnel vision. After the irregularly high levels of adrenaline consumed during sympathetic nervous system activation, an individual may display signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and it is common for the person to display extreme emotional liability and fatigue, regardless of their actual physical exertion.
It is possible to manage the “adrenaline dump” still occurring after the event, and it is common for soldiers and martial artists to use tachypsychia in order to increase their performance during stressful situations.
I have also experienced it in a couple of auto accidents riding in cars, both as driver and passenger. Getting to the Twilight Zone
Sometimes, when calming and concentration techniques merge with an athlete’s high arousal (is this what we should be calling an optimal experience?), a slow-motion effect is reported, and the action seems to slow way down - a sort of tachypsychia. Full-blown tachypsychia may be the most difficult of the arousal zone states to summon. At its height, it’s certainly the most fleeting. Maybe that’s why, when many athletes are asked how they get there, they just shrug their shoulders like basketball player Reggie Miller and say, “You don’t come to the zone, the zone comes to you.” But there is evidence to suggest otherwise. Like other positive facets of the psycho/adrenaline system, it seems to kick in at optimal arousal - the point at which the athlete has reached harmony of the mind-body-hormonal triangle. That’s the state the Japanese call “chi” and the Tibetans “lunggom.” It’s directly related to intense concentration, visualization, and perhaps hypnosis. “We may be able to harness it,” says John Krystal, associate professor of medicine at Yale University. “It’s similar to inducing a trance and it’s under the control of the adrenaline system.” To get to tachypsychia, the athlete may need to reach the highest “workable” level of the mind-body alarm system. Whereas extra speed and strength kick in during a two- or a three-alarm reaction, tachypsychia seems to require a four- or five. When an athlete who has reached optimal concentration is suddenly faced with a crisis stage of competition - bingo - the dopamine and noradrenalin arrive to give momentum to a situation that’s already there, some biochemists believe. These wonder hormones seem to always attach themselves to the direction of momentum the athlete is headed. (Those chemicals were found in large quantity in a study of British racing drivers who were concentrating hard and achieving good results.) Of course, when they’re pumped into the blood of a competitor who is concentrating poorly or is anxious or fearful, the opposite - choke and poor performance - can occur.
As in other peak performances, anger is often a key quotient, as long as it is channeled optimally, and with confidence. When he’s playing poorly, Doug Flutie - now in the NFL after years of great success in the CFL - gets mad at himself and takes command of a game. That’s when tachypsychia often appears. In a 1994 CFL game, he got mad at an opponent who stepped on his arm. “After that, the whole game in front of me slowed down for a while and my concentration became superior,” he recalls. “Suddenly I had more time to react to what the defense was doing and my adrenaline levels seemed way up, but I didn’t let them get out of hand.” Flutie added that he saves those emotional bursts for the latter stages of a game. “I can’t hold that concentration level for 60 minutes. I wish I could bottle it, though.” Such moments not only give Flutie more energy, but more desire to win, he added. “It keeps your morale up, knowing you have the ability to bring on those powers.”
Tachypsychia doesn’t last long - from a few seconds at it’s most intense to a few minutes in a more watered-down form. The great athletes know how to strive for it at the turning point of a match. And remember - it’s important not to confuse various types of peak performance zones. This short-term state seems only vaguely related to long-term zones, such as Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. In between are many other mind-body “flow” states, lasting a whole game or through several competitions.
Former tennis great and Olympic women’s coach Billie Jean King calls tachypsychia the perfect emotion. She tries to bring it on as often as possible by focus, relaxation, and using cue words such as “Go!” during the turning point of a competition.
She explains: If a match gets close, I slow down my rituals. If I bounce the ball twice before serving, I’ll bounce it slowly, or repeat the ritual, bouncing it four times, exaggerating. I make absolutely sure I have total clarity, acuteness, and focus. I try to visualize where I’m going to hit my serve . . . It’s an exercise in total commitment -technical and visual. I go through all this before I start. Then I feel the adrenaline flowing (like many athletes, she may be misinformed about the type of hormone she refers to, but the spirit of her words seems accurate), and I know the moment has come. “Go!” I say to myself, and I commit myself. You’re totally involved in the moment.
When King synchronizes such moments, the ball starts to look bigger to her and slows down as it comes at her off her opponent’s racket.
Some athletes are born with a big advantage: their hormonal and concentration systems are set up differently, says cardiologist Arnold Fox. They are allowed to take in greater detail, and perhaps are offered more room in time, because their visual and hormonal systems are different, and/or are better developed. It’s been said that Ted Williams could see the seams on a 100-mph fastball, although part of that was his intense concentration of pitchers’ habits while he was sitting in the on-deck circle.
“We know that people who are able to ’flow’ have a greater ability than others to screen out irrelevant information,” says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. “It could be the way their brain is put together, but I think it’s something that people can learn through technique.” like tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, inability to focus concentration, etc. Tachypsychia occurs separately from all of those. In fact, it is the antithesis of some. When you experience it, you typically will not necessarily have any of the other phenomena (athletes for example). During tachypsychia you have crystal clarity and focus without tunnel vision (some describe it as “hyper-awareness”), auditory exclusion or shaking. Most will tell you that they felt calm and focused, no shaking, no inability to focus.
Getting in the zone or allowing tachypsychia to happen can and does occur in the absence of “stress” (depending on your definition). Some define competition as “stress”. Tachypsychia occurs when your mind is in an altered state. You achieve an altered state through relaxation, hypnosis or by pushing your conscious mind aside and letting the subconscious take over. That’s why you cannot say “I’m experiencing tachypsychia right now”. You are aware it is occurring, but the minute you consciously acknowledge it, it ends. The mind can be trained to get into the state where you can allow tachypsychia to happen through meditation, relaxation or hypnosis. Like many other athletes and hypnotherapists, I use key word phrases to help relax, focus concentration and get my mind into the state where tachypsychia will occur. I don’t need to feel fear or anger for it to happen. I don’t need to be in a crisis confrontation. I simply need to (in the words of J. Michael Plaxco): “put your mind in neutral”. This is correct. Also it is remarkably difficult to treat at the far end of the spectrum.
We know that a panic triggers a fight-or-flight reaction, which activates the sympathetic nervous system that releasing adrenaline and noradrenalin besides other hormones, and getting the emergency fibers working.
Briefly, the brain uses about 20 different chemicals/compounds in its normal function. Right now, doctors recognize changes and alterations in two of them.
As a patient is treated with meds from these two groups, dramatic changes occur in the levels of the other 18, and they don’t know why—or how to effectively modulate them to treat certain conditions. One med elevates of diminishes levels, another med does just the reverse, or a mixed response.
So, a psychiatrist might experiment on several meds, even a cocktail. And since a “ramp up” requires about six weeks to effectively observe a positive therapeutic level, the patient goes through a rollercoaster of emotions.
It is not surprising that during the instantaneous chemical dump of an attack a combatant endures numerous changes in perceptions as well as dexterity.
I believe that the details of most people who have experienced the effects of Tachypsychia will bear out that the coefficient of friction would not support the necessary traction to move many of these foot-pounds of pressure even if you are taking into account a “heightened strength from the chemical cocktail introduced in flight/fight phenomenon.
I do not believe that any magical force is at work here. I think we have stumbled upon an unnoticed physical phenomenon; which is repeatable and observable under unusual circumstances. My conclusion is that the “world” is actually moving at a certain pace and the sensorial input via: eyes, ears, touch and taste are processed and stored in what we consider to be “now”. It is my belief that under certain “Life or Death” conditions a neural short circuit can be created after prolonged exposure which allows the diminishment of involvement of the pre-frontal lobe; and the autonomic system takes over reacting in the real “now” which occurs slightly before the pre-frontal processed “Now”. I believe that this is supported by the experiments conducted by Michel Treisman; Andrew Faulkner; Peter L. N. Naish found in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology, 1464-0740, Volume 45, Issue 2, 1992, Pages 235 – 263
Paper entitled:
As well as the Dean Buonomano Theory vs. Warren Meck Theory
Which Buonomano believes that he will have explained only the “fast time telling” within the brain? Why? Because after half-of-a-second, the ripples in our brain clear out. On a bigger scale, which would range from a few seconds to a few hours, there must be a different way to study the brain’s time control processing.
That’s where Duke University’s Warren Meck comes into play. He has a different theory stating that: the brain measures long periods of time by producing pulses. However, he also believes that the brain doesn’t count the pulses like the way a “clock does.” He strongly believes that the brain listens to the pulses in the same way that our ears listen to music.
Warren Meck started developing his first “musical model” of time processing when he was studying the time perception of rodents; more specifically, the time perception of rats. All that Meck needed to do in order to kill their time processing was to destroy certain neuronal clusters within their brains. After taking a closer look at the situation, Meck found that some of these neurons differed from the rest of the neurons in the brain.
Each neuron was linked to at least 20,000 other neurons in the brain. The “linked neurons” could be seen throughout the cortex. Many even linked to the outer parts of the brain, which handle “sophisticated information processing.” While other neurons were linked to “controlling vision,” and even others worked to bind other areas into our perception. Because these neurons received many signals from “all over the brain,” he believes that these medium spiny neurons provide us with an accurate perception of time.
Picture yourself listening to a 30 second constant sound. At the beginning of listening to the constant sound, your neurons [found within your cortex] will reset themselves in order to fire in synchronized fashion. Some of the neurons fire faster than others, while others remain inactive. In between one split second and the next, the medium spiny neurons are able to read a unique pattern of signals from the many [20,000 +] interconnected neurons.
The pattern changes similar to pitch changes in between various notes of music. When the 30 seconds of the beat are up, the medium spiny neurons are able to “listen” to the “pitch changes” to determine the amount of elapsed time. Warren Meck has been able to provide evidence supporting his theory. How? Warren has recorded neuronal electrical activity and analyzed them deeply and has studied individuals with a “skewed sense of time.”
Also taking into account the In
quantum mechanics, the
Heisenberg uncertainty principle states by precise inequalities that certain pairs of physical properties, like position and momentum, cannot simultaneously be known to arbitrary precision. That is, the more precisely one property is measured, the less precisely the other can be measured. In other words, the more you know the position of a particle, the less you can know about its velocity, and the more you know about the velocity of a particle, the less you can know about its instantaneous position.
That said, I believe that moving at the speed of reality by means of the shorting the frontal process of the brain and moving to the autonomic system and maintaining focus during the phenomenon actually allows for a change in specific gravity. More mass and time on target creates more drag. I believe a person moving nano-seconds faster or reacting to reality in the real now verses the perceived now; allows less Quantum-drag and creates the phenomenon, which I have been researching for the last 10 years.
This brings to mind time and its relation to gravity. It is quite possible that time, or the perception thereof is a by-product of oscillation of matter against gravity. In much the same way as a string oscillates against the bridge of a guitar. If a person could move in sync with the oscillation of matter in real-time what might that do to the perceived laws of physics re: matter, weight and speed or action verses reaction.
Quantum Drag
Postulation of a theory:
There is a disparity in the time that perception occurs. This would be on the order of a level of nanoseconds. We can observe the effects of the cancellation of this disparity when we observe the fight/flight response to life and death situations. A few of which are as follows:
1. Enhanced strength.
2. Enhanced hearing.
3. Enhanced speed.
4. Enhanced perception of surroundings.
5. A feeling of precognition.
What needs to be explained is how this occurs? Anyone?
Carl Sagan said that the Cosmos is all there ever was and all there ever will be. I believed that for a long time. Then I ran into something called the Law of Thermodynamics. The entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium. In a simple manner, the second law states that “energy systems have a tendency to increase their entropy” rather than decrease it. A pithy summation of the Second Law would be “You Can’t Break Even”, or “Everything gets messy and falls apart eventually.” A way of looking at the second law for us non-scientists is to look at entropy as a measure of chaos. So, for example, a broken cup has less order and more chaos than an intact one. Likewise, solid crystals, the most organized form of matter, have very low entropy values; and gases, which are highly disorganized, have high entropy values. The entropy of a thermally isolated macroscopic system never decreases (see Maxwell’s demon). However, a microscopic system may exhibit fluctuations of entropy opposite to that dictated by the Second Law (see Fluctuation Theorem). In fact, the mathematical proof of the Fluctuation Theorem from time-reversible dynamics and the Axiom of Causality constitutes a proof of the Second Law. In a logical sense the Second Law thus ceases to be a “Law” of physics and instead becomes a theorem which is valid for large systems or long times. The first and second law can be combined to yield the Fundamental Thermodynamic Relation:dE = TdS - pdV\, Here, E is energy, T is temperature, S is entropy, p is pressure, and V is volume For a start, there is not now nor ever has been order derived from disorder without intelligence. Often there is the semblance of structure but not repeatable order. Overtime all systems break down. Since we are dealing with me, and my beliefs, I believe that Darwinian evolutionism makes absolutely no sense. I don’t see how a highly complex organism could violate the law of Thermodynamics. Entropy is just too hard a hurdle for Darwin to jump and must yield the field to a better idea.
New Light on the possible scientific basis for Chi or Key energy phenomenon.
Tachypsychia is a neurological condition that alters the perception of time, usually induced by physical exertion, drug use, or a traumatic event. THEORY: Time and Gravity have a specific juxtaposed relationship. Specifically one in which Gravity is found as the constant, and time being a function of Gravity.
Time dilation is a phenomenon (or two phenomena, as mentioned below) described by the theory of relativity. It can be illustrated by supposing that two observers are in motion relative to each other, and/or differently situated with regard to nearby gravitational masses. They each carry a clock of identical construction and function. Then, the point of view of each observer will generally be that the other observer's clock is in error (has changed its rate).
Both causes (distance to gravitational mass and relative speed) can operate together. All matter vibrates at the same rate. I.E. You cannot put the molecules of the hand thru the molecules of the table in front of you. Speed overcomes mass. Think of bullet mass experiments conducted on Gelatin; bullets overcome the mass of ballistic gelatin if it is traveling fast enough. A slow moving bullet transfers it's mass/force into the ballistic gelatin. The bullet represents matter, where the gelatin represents this current vibration rate being equal to what we perceive as reality.
Tachypsychia is a neurological condition that alters the perception of time, usually induced by physical exertion, drug use, or a traumatic event. Martial arts instructors and self-defense experts sometimes incorrectly refer it to as the Tachy Psyche effect. For someone affected by tachypsychia, time perceived by the individual either lengthens, making events appear to slow down, or contracts, objects appearing as moving in a speeding blur. It is believed that tachypsychia is induced by a combination of high levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, usually during periods of great physical stress and/or in violent confrontation.
Adrenaline response
Upon being stimulated by fear or anger, the adrenal medulla may automatically produce the hormone epinephrine (aka adrenaline) directly into the blood stream. This can have various effects on various bodily systems, including:
Increased heart rate and blood pressure. It is common for a tachypsychia subject's pulse to rise to between 200 and 300 beats per minute (bpm). Increased heart rate (above 250 bpm) can cause fainting, and the body may adduct all limbs, adopting fetal position, in preparation for a coma.
Dilation of the bronchial passages, permitting higher absorption of oxygen.
Dilated pupils to allow more light to enter, and visual exclusion—tunnel vision—occurs, allowing greater focus but resulting in the loss of peripheral vision.
Release of glucose into the bloodstream, generating extra energy by raising the blood sugar level.
It is common for an individual to experience auditory exclusion or sensitivity. It is also common for individuals to experience an increased pain tolerance, loss of color vision, short term memory loss, decreased fine motor skills, decreased communication skills, or decreased coordination.
Psychological response
The most common experience during tachypsychia is the feeling that time has either increased or slowed down, brought on by the increased brain activity cause by epinephrine, or the severe decrease in brain activity caused by the "catecholamine washout" occurring after the event.
It is common for an individual experiencing tachypsychia to have serious misinterpretations of their surroundings during the events, through a combination of their altered perception of time, as well as transient partial color blindness and tunnel vision. After the irregularly high levels of adrenaline consumed during sympathetic nervous system activation, an individual may display signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and it is common for the person to display extreme emotional change and fatigue, regardless of their actual physical exertion.
It is possible to manage the "adrenaline dump" still occurring after the event, and it is common for soldiers and martial artists to use tachypsychia in order to increase their performance during stressful situations.
Tachypsychia (literally: the speed of the mind) -- the distortion of perceived time. In a life-or-death situation, the mind kicks into overdrive, perceiving orders of magnitude more information than is customary. This causes the perception that things are happening in slow motion, even though you -- and your opponent -- are probably moving faster than you ever have. Tachypsychia can also work in reverse ("it all happened so fast"). Ayoob's experiences lead him to observe that the more experienced and highly trained a person is, the more likely that person is to experience tachypsychia. That is, a person who knows that "trouble happens" is less likely to be surprised by it, and more likely to respond with super-heightened awareness. A concrete upshot of tachypsychia is that one should not speak with responding officers on the question of how long an encounter took.
Tunnel Vision -- the mind focuses on the deadly threat to the exclusion of much of one's ordinary peripheral vision. It appears as if one is looking at the threat through a tube (or tunnel, precisely), and it requires conscious effort to see more than a few degrees to the right or left, or up or down. This can be a problem if you're dealing with multiple opponents.
Auditory Exclusion -- could also be called "tunnel hearing." Like tunnel vision, auditory exclusion is largely a function of the brain's cortex. That is, the brain has kicked into fight or flight reflex, focusing on the threat and screening out everything extraneous to immediate survival. One is still -- physically -- seeing and hearing as usual, but the brain is screening lots of things out. Tunnel vision and auditory exclusion appears larger, therefore closer, often by as much as a 3-to-1 ratio. A man with a knife five yards away appears to be five feet away; .22s look like .44 magnums. You may not hear the officer behind you yelling: "don't shoot;" you may not even hear your own shots (rest assured however that 'clickers' will the loudest sounds you've ever heard). If you experience such physio-psychological aspects in a violent encounter -- and don't recognize them for what they are -- and recount your (distorted) perceptions to police, you can be in world of trouble when your case goes to court.
Precognition -- commonly called a "sixth sense" (a good phrase to avoid). Precognition has to do with having seen something so many times that you "see it coming" before the unthreatened observer -- such as a witness -- does. The connection with fight or flight reflex is that, in a deadly threat situation, the mind draws on memory resources that are not typically used. Precognition is a response to a subconsciously perceived queue, and has successfully been used in criminal defense (Miami policeman Luis Alvarez, 1982).
Denial Response -- On an otherwise normal day, you get a call out of the blue telling you that your mother has died. Your first response? "No! Mother can't be dead!" Another common example is people yelling "no" at a car that's about to hit them, or hit someone else.
Psychological Splitting -- the more highly trained a person is, the apt more he or she is to experience this. When you have trained in something to the point that you can do it by reflex -- coupled with stimulus which triggers fight or flight -- the body moves so fast that the prefrontal cortex can't keep up. This can result in the perception of watching oneself do something.
Excorporation -- out of body experience, the highest manifestation of psychological splitting. This is most commonly seen on operating tables after clinical death, and is often combined with a white tunnel of light (see items 2 and 6 above). It is also seen in gunfights with persons who think they are about to die. Its cause is that survival instinct is taking all the senses into overdrive, into hyper-perception one might say. In this state, the mind can generate 3-D images from sounds and recollected sights. Even when the body is unconscious, the ears still hear and -- if they are open -- the eyes can still see. Even at clinical death, the brain lives for another 8-10 minutes (ask any EMT).
State of Fugue -- somnambulant, zombie-like state. Seen occasionally.
Cognitive Dissonance -- or confusion, is more common. Common manifestations include remembering things out of sequence, trivial things looming large in the mind immediately after the incident, and important things being lost to short-term memory immediately after the incident.
If trained properly by repetition, a person can learn to function for an extended period in this state. There is an increase in Tachypsychia (literally: the speed of the mind): the distortion of perceived time. In a life-or-death situation, the mind kicks into overdrive and transfers into the sub-conscious (which operates much faster than the conscious) so your perception of time becomes altered. This causes the observation that things are happening in slow motion (a.k.a "Bullet Time"), even though you (and your opponent) are probably moving faster than you ever have. Tachypsychia can also work in reverse ("It all happened so fast"). Observations have been made that the more experienced and highly trained a person is, the more likely that person is to experience tachypsychia. That is, a person who knows that "trouble happens" is less likely to be surprised by it, and more likely to respond with super-heightened awareness.
Time perceived by the individual either lengthens, making events appear to slow down, or contracts, objects appearing as moving in a speeding blur. It is believed that tachypsychia is induced by a combination of high levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, usually during periods of great physical stress and/or in violent confrontation. They are not the same. No one can tell you what causes tachypsychia to occur. They can only tell you when it is likely to occur. They don't know if it is caused by chemicals and if so, which. It could totally be a perception or state of mind/level of consciousness issue. The only thing anyone can say for certain is that it occurs and that you can train to reach a state where it is likely to occur. Yes, athletes do experience it fully. From my own experience, I have had it occur in armed confrontations, an automobile accident and in competition. Every time I have experienced it, it occurred absent of fear or any other noticeable effect of fear. Events happened with crystal clarity, but without conscious thought. It happens in an area of the brain that is still not understood. That is why no one can say "if we inject you with "X", you will experience it. So far, the only success has been through hypnosis and visualization (sports psychology). That's why you are starting to see a slow shift in LE training to incorporate some of the proven sports psychology techniques.
While Laur's articles are good, Dr. Lewinski at the Force Science Institute has done studies that show elevated pulse rates (by themselves) have no effect on fine motor skills. *"Chemical Cocktail" released by the body:
-Adrenaline
-Cortisol
-Dopamine
*Blood diverts from extremities to large muscles.
-Loss of Dexterity and fine Motor Skills
*Tachypsychia
(Distortion in the perception of the passage of time)
*Other Physical Changes:
-Eyes Dilate
-Tunnel Vision
-Auditory Exclusion
--Blood Vessels in Ears dilate
*Nausea
*Time/Space Distortion
-Things Slow Down
*Heart Rate:
-60/80 BPM is Normal
-300 BPM has been recorded
-200 BPM has been recorded sustained
-115-145 BPM is Optimum Combat Performance
-At 145 BPM Complex Motor Skills Go Down
-At 175 BPM Gross Motor Skills Go Down
*Heart Rate of 175 BPM
-Fore Brain Shuts Down and Mid Brain Takes Over
-Mid Brain does only four things: Fight/Flight/Eat/Sex
-Mid Brain sends signal works (NSR)
-All senses but vision shuts down
--(Touch, Taste, Smell, Hearing, ESP??)
Some athletes are born with a big advantage: their hormonal and concentration systems are set up differently, says cardiologist Arnold Fox. They are allowed to take in greater detail, and perhaps are offered more room in time, because their visual and hormonal systems are different, and/or are better developed. It’s been said that Ted Williams could see the seams on a 100-mph fastball, although part of that was his intense concentration of pitchers’ habits while he was sitting in the on-deck circle.
"We know that people who are able to ’flow’ have a greater ability than others to screen out irrelevant information," says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. "It could be the way their brain is put together, but I think it’s something that people can learn through technique." Like tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, inability to focus concentration, etc. Tachypsychia occurs separately from all of those. In fact, it is the antithesis of some. When you experience it, you typically will not necessarily have any of the other phenomena (athletes for example). During tachypsychia you have crystal clarity and focus without tunnel vision (some describe it as "hyper-awareness"), auditory exclusion or shaking. Most will tell you that they felt calm and focused, no shaking, no inability to focus.
Briefly, the brain uses about 20 different chemicals/compounds in its normal function. Right know, doctors recognize changes and alterations in two of them.
As a patient is treated with meds from these two groups, dramatic changes occur in the levels of the other 18, and they don't know why--or how to effectively modulate them to treat certain conditions. One med elevates of diminishes levels, another med does just the reverse, or a mixed response.
So, a psychiatrist might experiment on several meds, even a cocktail. And since a "ramp up" requires about six weeks to effectively observe a positive therapeutic level, the patient goes through a rollercoaster of emotions.
It is not surprising that during the instantaneous chemical dump of an attack a combatant endures numerous changes in perceptions as well as dexterity.
My advice is to learn and investigate stress as it relates to defense just like you would do research on any other aspect of safety and security.
Sayoc Kali Transition Drills Distortion of Time Perception during Tactical Encounters By Stephen Chrusciel
The third phase in the OODA Loop is Decision-making. This is where the efficiency of process is critical because of the role time plays in the interaction. Tactical training expert Ken Good of the Sure-Fire Institute refers to tactical situations as taking place in a “compressed time frame”, because a correct response to a situation delivered at the wrong time (typically late due to an overextended decision-making process) will now be ineffective because the situation has changed while the initial decision was being reached. A simple analogy is a distance shooter continually missing a moving target because he is aiming right at it without allowing for its motion by leading it. The question becomes “How do we install the decision-making process on the subconscious level to take advantage of the resulting increase in processing speed?” The answer is again in the training. Regular, rigorous exposure to the decision-making process under the stress of realistic training, where there are immediate ramifications for bad choices, gives the student a consistent progression by which he is able to internalize this process. Too much time spent training “in the fire” can be just as ineffective as no time at all; it is the application of the correct ratio of technical and tactical training on a subjective basis that produces the best practitioners.
In summary there is ample evidence to show that Key or chi force exists and can allow a martial artist to function at "higher than normal" levels.
IDEA: all matter is linked at the sub-atomic level. It oscillates at a consistent rate of motion exactly with all other material. It is this oscillation that needs to be explored. In much the same way as a water wheel is able to make use of the motion of the water, there must be some way to use the innate oscillation to manipulate matter. Imagine a million tiny water wheels all in motion to produce. What? The Asian community has a concept of chi/ki as a means to manipulate the environment to a limited extent. I think this also ties into the notion of the absence of pre-frontal cortex procession in order to access this chi/ki. Meditation and a “Letting go of the past/ or future but only exist in the now, fits nicely with my earlier postulation of the idea of acting and being in the immediate now in the absence of pre-frontal processing resulting in a cessation of the effects of Quantum Drag.
Combat is very intense; learning the so-called ability to keep up in advents is a survival response. The PD and Fire service will take a longer time to be at the same mental level but it will occur. It usually lasts much longer in this service. There will be many combat vets who fit in later service join the PD and FD services.
You should thank God for these folks, as they are unsung heroes. We who have been in any service can appreciate our duty to protect those who cannot protect themselves or family. On the other hand, tachypsychia can save your life, because it is the perceptual manifestation of the fact that you’re thinking very, very quickly. It is often helpful to be able to think quickly when bad stuff is happening!
Tachypsychia, the sped-up mind and its associated perceptual time distortion, is only part of the body alarm reaction (“adrenalin dump”), a survival response common to all mammals. Other aspects of the same phenomena include increased strength, increased speed, increased heart rate and breathing rate, blood rushing to the core of the body and leaving the extremities (“his face just went white with fear”), and so on. Tunnel vision and auditory exclusion can happen too—both of which focus your mind and your senses very sharply on the perceived threat as your brain tunes out all other possible distractions. Each of these specific aspects of the body alarm reaction can help people survive in extreme situations.
These same reactions can also get you killed if you aren’t prepared for them to happen, or don’t know how to cope with them, causing you to get distracted by them or even spend your energy fighting against them instead of focusing on doing what you need to do. But your body is designed to respond that way under life-threatening stress simply because the increased speed, increased strength, attention focus and so on all help people to survive in such situations. Tachypsychia is a neurological condition that distorts the perception of time, usually induced by physical exertion, drug use, or a traumatic event. Martial arts instructors and self-defense experts sometimes refer it to as the Tacky Psyche effect. For someone affected by tachypsychia, time perceived by the individual either lengthens, making events appear to slow down, or contracts, objects appearing as moving in a speeding blur. It is believed that tachypsychia is induced by a combination of high levels of dopamine and nor epinephrine, usually during periods of great physical stress and/or in violent confrontation. They are not the same. No one can tell you what causes tachypsychia to occur. They can only tell you when it is likely to occur. They don’t know if it is caused by chemicals and if so, which. It could totally be a perception or state of mind/level of consciousness issue. The only thing anyone can say for certain is that it occurs and that you can train to reach a state where it is likely to occur. Yes, athletes do experience it fully. From my own experience, I have had it occur in armed confrontations, an automobile accident and in competition. Every time I have experienced it, it occurred absent of fear or any other noticeable effect of fear. Events happened with crystal clarity, but without conscious thought. It happens in an area of the brain that is still not understood. That is why no one can say “if we inject you with “X”, you will experience it. So far, the only success has been through hypnosis and visualization (sports psychology). That’s why you are starting to see a slow shift in LE training to incorporate some of the proven sports psychology techniques.
While Laur’s articles are good, Dr. Lewinski at the Force Science Institute has done studies that show elevated pulse rates (by themselves) have no effect on fine motor skills. *”Chemical Cocktail” released by the body:
• Adrenaline
• Cortisol
• Dopamine
*Blood diverts from extremities to large muscles.
• Loss of Dexterity and fine Motor Skills
*Tachypsychia
(Distortion in the perception of the passage of time)
*Other Physical Changes:
• Eyes Dilate
• Tunnel Vision
• Auditory Exclusion
• Blood Vessels in Ears dilate
*Nausea
*Time/Space Distortion
• Things Slow Down
*Heart Rate:
• 60/80 BPM is Normal
• 300 BPM has been recorded
• 200 BPM has been recorded sustained
• 115-145 BPM is Optimum Combat Performance
• At 145 BPM Complex Motor Skills Go Down
• At 175 BPM Gross Motor Skills Go Down
*Heart Rate of 175 BPM
• Fore Brain Shuts Down and Mid Brain Takes Over
• Mid Brain does only four things: Fight/Flight/Eat/Sex
• Mid Brain sends signal works (NSR)
• All senses but vision shuts down
--(Touch, Taste, Smell, Hearing, ESP??) for perseverance shooting…shoot until it
*Out of 10 Shooters report:
• 9 to have auditory exclusion
• 2 to hear intensified sounds
• 8 to move on autopilot
• 6 to have higher vision of clarity
• 1 to experience paralysis
• 2 to have memory distortion
• 2 to experience the world moving in fast motion
• 4 to experience intrusive/distractive thoughts (family, loved ones)
**Same Shooter May Experience More Than One Effect!!! **
Effects on the Shooter:
*Shoot Faster & Less Accurate
*Will Think & Perform Tasks with less Accuracy
*Experience Some or Complete Memory Loss
*Experience Loss of Feeling:
• Pain may or may not be felt *Denial *Altered Decision Making Process
*May do things never done or been trained to do It is one of those things that occur under great stress, but not always as part of the complete fight/flight response.
