Have you ever heard someone say, “The brain doesn’t distinguish between fiction and reality: when we watch a movie, we get scared, cry, or laugh… this proves that the brain believes what it sees even when it’s fiction”?
Shortcuts
Well, yes and no. But this illustrates another component of the brain very well: learning.
When someone is learning a new subject or entering a new field, they don’t yet know the subject well enough to see the details, the subtle differences that the subject entails. And that’s normal; it’s the process of learning.
In fact, the brain simplifies what it learns to digest it, much like us humans when we eat, we chew to swallow and allow the intestine to digest more easily.
The same goes for the brain. It creates shortcuts. Children’s learning works the same way. When you explain something to a child, you simplify and take shortcuts. The most significant shortcut the human brain makes is to see things in a black-and-white, binary manner (0/1, yes/no, black/white, good/bad, with us/against us).
The Three Brains
The Three Brains
The brain is like a computer. It records and categorizes all our experiences from the time we come into existence. How does it do this, and according to what criteria?
We humans have, according to what neuroscience has discovered so far, three brains:
- Reptilian brain
- Limbic brain
- Neocortex
Reptilian Brain
It regulates vital functions like respiration or metabolism. It does not think or learn; it executes.
Limbic Brain or Amygdala
It manages emotions and physiological reactions.
Neocortex
It handles reasoning and enables survival in adversity.
These three different layers have evolved over time, from our ancestors, the small mammals that existed in the time of dinosaurs, to the development of primates into Homo sapiens.
Blog from Dose MindCare explains it well:
“The reptilian brain is the brain of survival instinct and conservation, and it appeared 400 to 600 million years ago. It is the center for our primary and fundamental functions: motor control, respiration, feeding, heart rate, body temperature, as well as attention, fear, and combat…
Next is the limbic brain, which appeared 60 million years ago with the arrival of the first mammals. This brain is the center of emotions, decision-making, long-term memory, motivation, pleasure/displeasure, successes/failures…
If you expose different people to the same event, their reactions will be different: this is the result of the learning in the limbic brain.
The neocortex is only present in humans and in some mammals like chimpanzees, dolphins, etc. It is the brain of reason, logic, speech, and consciousness.
This brain is responsible for our ability to face and solve problems: rationality, curiosity, creativity…”
What needs to be understood is that the primary mission of the first two brains is to keep their hosts alive. The reptilian brain plays a binary but crucial role, which develops with emotions, especially fear, from the limbic brain. As for the neocortex, it is there for thinking. It balances the other two.
For example, when we watch a movie, we experience emotions (fear, joy, excitement, sadness…). If the neocortex wasn’t there, we might hide under the couch or call the police when we see the “good guy” getting shot, but it’s there to calm us down and tell the other two brains, “Relax, guys, it’s just fiction.”
The role of the first two brains is to keep us alive, so in a way, they don’t “do subtlety,” and at the slightest sign of danger, they sound the alarm. However, the neocortex is there to calm them down.
Role of "the brains" in a dangerous situation
When we are faced with a situation that our central nervous system deems “dangerous,” we will act based on the time available to us. If the situation requires an immediate, almost instantaneous response, it’s the role of the reptilian brain.
It’s a reflexive action; we don’t think about what we’re doing.
For example: something hot => we retract our hand.
Sometimes, we even find ourselves reacting before we fully understand what’s happening, almost like an automaton. This is very interesting because it shows that the brain has “seen” and “recorded” data through our five senses that our “conscious” side hasn’t “seen,” and so the body reacts. It’s important to note that the “impulse” comes from the brain. We’ll delve into the brain and experience in more detail later.
It’s only afterward that emotions start to rise. Generally, it’s fear that follows because in these situations, the goal is often to avert a catastrophe, and the reptilian brain triggers emergency mode to get out of a dangerous situation.
Then, if the situation allows us a few fractions of a second to “evaluate,” emotions come into play.
For example, if you see a lion pouncing on you, your body will instinctively jump to the side without you having to think about it; this is a reflex triggered by the reptilian brain.
However, if you see the lion about ten meters away from you, all four paws on the ground but looking at you with hungry eyes, and you read “yum” in its gaze, then at that moment, the hippocampus will divert part of the information to the limbic brain, lacking input from the neocortex, and it will trigger the appropriate emotions (for more details, refer to Daniel Goleman’s book – “Emotional Intelligence” – Volume 1 – Edition J’ai lu – page 39).
In cases of stress, we react in one of three ways:
Freeze
Flight
Fight
Your reaction will also depend on the lion’s reaction. The more time the lion allows you, the more time you have for self-assessment and “thinking.”
In this case, role of emotions is to enable you to move (emovere in Latin).
If lion doesn’t give you time and starts running toward you, the amygdala will send hormones (via peptides related to the specific emotion) to different parts of the body to help you respond as effectively as possible to the threat. In other words, you will start running to find safety.
But if the lion doesn’t move, the flow of information will reach the neocortex, and the three brains will work together a bit more. Some form of “thinking” will allow you to have a wider range of responses to the situation. The choice you make will depend on your knowledge, but more importantly, your experience.
Brain and Experience
As mentioned earlier, the primary goal of the brain is to keep us alive.
The survival criteria retained by the reptilian and limbic brains are not entirely objective because they are based in part on our life experiences but also on “evolution.” What was dangerous for us 10 million years ago or when we were two years old may not be the same anymore, as the context and environment have changed.
This is where neuroception comes in, which is the detection of safety or danger cues by our autonomic nervous system.
Neuroception constantly analyzes information coming from our five senses to determine whether we are safe. It then compares the current situation to past experiences in order to adopt an appropriate behavior.
99% of the time, since we are still alive, there is no alert because the nervous system thinks, “Okay, this situation is similar to those experienced at a certain age,” and as “we” are still alive, “we” made the right decision by acting this way, so let’s do the same thing, choose the same tactic.
This is why the reptilian brain dislikes change, and we sometimes find ourselves in situations that are not pleasant for us just because it’s what we know and therefore not dangerous for the reptilian brain. This is the principle of the comfort zone.
As a result, we adopt the same behavior, with a few details, as long as both parts of the brain give us the green light in terms of safety.
You can also compare this security to a kind of “checklist.” The first box would be physical security, the second emotional security, and so on.
All of this is, in fact, a gigantic scan of all the data gathered throughout our lives. This is what memory is for: a constant evaluation of the level of safety. There is an alarm signal when we face a new situation or when the risk factors are very high.
For our brain, as long as we are alive, all experiences are successful. It will categorize them according to many different criteria, which only it will “understand.” A bit like when your computer organizes documents or files into the System folder.
You shouldn’t manipulate the system folder, or your computer may fail to restart properly. In humans, this can be translated as madness.
For what purpose? In the next situation or experience, the brain will analyze what you are currently experiencing and will search for the last time you encountered a similar situation to replicate the same behavior because, for the brain, what worked last time can be a source of inspiration for what is happening now: a kind of copy-paste. If the situations are different, it will adapt and improvise.
This induces the feeling of “intuition.” Unfortunately, I may disappoint some, but intuition is not some kind of superhuman power that certain individuals possess. Today, we know, and it is increasingly evident, that intuition is the sum of past experiences.
So the more life experience we accumulate, the better our brain will be at making the best decisions based on reflexes.
The “downside” of this is that:
- The brain acts based on patterns. Unconsciously, as we have seen, the brain will replicate what it has done in the past. For an emergency situation, this can be beneficial since you are still alive, but the brain also does this for EVERY situation you go through. Whether it’s professional or emotional decisions, the brain, through memory, relies on what you did last time. That’s why we often have behaviors that we don’t like but find it difficult to get rid of.
That being said, the intensity of the emotions felt at a given moment will add more “weight” to the impact an experience will have on the brain (Theory of Somatic Markers – Antonio Damasio).
- In the spirit of keeping us alive, the brain has an unfortunate tendency to view situations from a negative or even pessimistic perspective because, for the brain, it won’t be surprised and will have a “head start” if things go wrong.
What to do now that you know this?
Knowledge is the first step. Indeed, even unconsciously, you can gradually try to correct certain habits or even certain emotions that you feel in certain situations but dislike. For example, stage fright when you have to speak in front of an audience.
In fact, like all various areas of learning, the more you think about it, reflect on it, and relate what you know to your own personal history, the more likely you are to be able to correct these minor disturbances in life.
Don’t blame yourself!
This could be the subject of another article, but there is much to say about guilt. Stop blaming yourself. In this article, we have seen that the brain acts this way in order to save your life… so thank it! Even if it’s not as urgent today as it was for our hunter-gatherer ancestors.
If you understand this and integrate it into your personality, then you will live in harmony with your brain and accept it both for the benefits it brings you (your type of intelligence… what type of intelligence are you? According to Dr. Gardner, there are eight forms of intelligence… another article) and for those little harmful habits it pushes you to do.