This is really good. I've received advice before that if I plan to fail and plan an alternative path that feels safer I probably will fail and fall onto that path. But part of setting ourselves up for success is asking what could go wrong, while still keeping our eyes on the goal. That will give us a better chance of doing what we need to do to succeed. I like that!
Thanks for sharing! I'm familiar with Tye's work; the multi-functional role of amygdala is well established now. This is fascinating. Might need to get her on the podcast!
This says, in part "For years, the amygdala was seen as a one-trick pony. It was regarded as the part of the brain that triggers the "fight or flight response" when it senses possible danger. It didn't seem to have any other function. This view has been dramatically changed by Tye’s research. In an area of the amygdala called the basolateral amygdala, Tye found an area of synapses that, when activated, causes an urge to run or to fight. That was expected. But she also found something unexpected. In a different area of the basolateral amygdala, turning of the synapses there caused positive behaviors such as eating, sleeping, and mating. The idea that the amygdala could cause positive behaviors was so different that she had a hard time finding a journal that would publish her findings. Reference: https://www.salk.edu/news-release/making-a-memory-positive-or-negative/
Now, her research has changed how neuroscientists view the amygdala. They now say the amygdala is responsible for what we feel as we ecounter the world around us. The basolateral amygdala enables us "to filter out the unimportant information and rapidly respond to our dynamic surroundings in an adaptive manner." Reference: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6590698/
To navigate us around our environment, the brain must first attach code the amygdala can read to everything in our environment. The code is called "emotional valence code." The term valence means whether something is positive or negative, and how positive or how negative it is. To become able to quickly respond to the world around us, the brain attaches positive valence code to things that produce positive feelings and negative valence code to things that cause negative feelings. This process is called 'valence assignment'." Reference: https://www.salk.edu/news-release/making-a-memory-positive-or-negative/
It helps to think of the basolateral amygdala as a scanner, like the scanner at checkout at the supermarket. A scanner can instantly read code - like the barcode on a product - and come up with information about the product. Though some of the codes our basolateral amygdala scans are inborn, most of the codes it scans are codes we assigned to the things around us based on what we were taught about thinks and on our own experience of things.
At every waking moment, our amygdala is reading the valence codes assigned to the things around us. Our amygdala quickly determines what is most important at the moment and produces feelings that cause us to focus on that thing. Since a reading of the code attached to a thing causes feelings about it, the code is called "emotional valence code." To motivate our behavior, a code-caused feeling of desire can draw us toward something or a code-caused feeling of disgust or fear can make us back away...."
This is really good. I've received advice before that if I plan to fail and plan an alternative path that feels safer I probably will fail and fall onto that path. But part of setting ourselves up for success is asking what could go wrong, while still keeping our eyes on the goal. That will give us a better chance of doing what we need to do to succeed. I like that!
Thanks for sharing! I'm familiar with Tye's work; the multi-functional role of amygdala is well established now. This is fascinating. Might need to get her on the podcast!
Doc, you might want to check out https://substack.com/inbox/post/160688480?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3408986&post_id=160688480&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=epxm8&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email for your work
Just finished your Hope if the First Dose. Thanks!!!
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This says, in part "For years, the amygdala was seen as a one-trick pony. It was regarded as the part of the brain that triggers the "fight or flight response" when it senses possible danger. It didn't seem to have any other function. This view has been dramatically changed by Tye’s research. In an area of the amygdala called the basolateral amygdala, Tye found an area of synapses that, when activated, causes an urge to run or to fight. That was expected. But she also found something unexpected. In a different area of the basolateral amygdala, turning of the synapses there caused positive behaviors such as eating, sleeping, and mating. The idea that the amygdala could cause positive behaviors was so different that she had a hard time finding a journal that would publish her findings. Reference: https://www.salk.edu/news-release/making-a-memory-positive-or-negative/
Now, her research has changed how neuroscientists view the amygdala. They now say the amygdala is responsible for what we feel as we ecounter the world around us. The basolateral amygdala enables us "to filter out the unimportant information and rapidly respond to our dynamic surroundings in an adaptive manner." Reference: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6590698/
To navigate us around our environment, the brain must first attach code the amygdala can read to everything in our environment. The code is called "emotional valence code." The term valence means whether something is positive or negative, and how positive or how negative it is. To become able to quickly respond to the world around us, the brain attaches positive valence code to things that produce positive feelings and negative valence code to things that cause negative feelings. This process is called 'valence assignment'." Reference: https://www.salk.edu/news-release/making-a-memory-positive-or-negative/
It helps to think of the basolateral amygdala as a scanner, like the scanner at checkout at the supermarket. A scanner can instantly read code - like the barcode on a product - and come up with information about the product. Though some of the codes our basolateral amygdala scans are inborn, most of the codes it scans are codes we assigned to the things around us based on what we were taught about thinks and on our own experience of things.
At every waking moment, our amygdala is reading the valence codes assigned to the things around us. Our amygdala quickly determines what is most important at the moment and produces feelings that cause us to focus on that thing. Since a reading of the code attached to a thing causes feelings about it, the code is called "emotional valence code." To motivate our behavior, a code-caused feeling of desire can draw us toward something or a code-caused feeling of disgust or fear can make us back away...."