Posted on 04/16/2010 1:34:04 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The brains of elite soldiers can respond faster to signs of anger than normal, which could help them detect threats and make the difference between life and death when under fire.
The differences in the brains of those who excel in extreme circumstances are poorly understood. Such research might help improve military performance, explained neuroscientist Alan Simmons at the University of California at San Diego.
To investigate the brains of elite soldiers who face extreme circumstances all the time, psychiatrist Martin Paulus with Simmons and their colleagues scanned the brains of 11 off-duty members of the elite Navy SEALs (SEa, Air, and Land special forces) and 23 ordinary healthy men while they viewed faces that displayed either angry, fearful or happy expressions.
"Hopefully this research will help improve the understanding what makes SEALs so special," Simmons said. "They are highly resilient individuals, and if we could help other soldiers to become more resilient to the effects of stress, then that would be a very gratifying result."
The scientists found the insula, a region deep within the brain, activated more strongly in Navy SEALs when they saw angry faces than when compared to ordinary men.
"The insula is important for understanding your body sensations, or gut feelings," Simmons explained. "This suggests that when they see an angry face they do a 'gut check.' This may be because angry faces, but not fearful and happy faces, do require immediate attention for safety in combat."
When it came to happy or fearful faces, the brains of Navy SEALs reacted more slowly than non-SEALS.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Are you a Bene Gesserit?
Am I correct that to be considered as a candidate to be a SEAL one must also have a very high IQ?
Well?..If high IQ people are quicker on other tasks, doesn’t it make sense that they would also be quicker and more accurate with reading the emotions of the people around them?
Sheep---sheepdogs---wolves. Seals are sheepdogs trained to protect the sheep from the wolves.
Nothing mysterious to me, just being alert to what the body says and not what the mouth says...
I don’t know about EVERYONE in the room, but if you carry a weapon, you need to take a few seconds to see the folks around you and where threats might be and how to react. More like “anyone” in the room. (I’ve heard it as “...but have a plan to kill anyone you meet.” Not bad advice really.
And not so much “jacked up”, just “heads up”. (As opposed to yapping on a cell phone all the time with NO IDEA of what is going on, like so many folks are).
Oh, I agree. Certain fields or even recreational pursuits are more conducive to maintaining an intimate connection to the “hair on the back of your neck” sort of instinctual awareness. Police, military, etcetera, even certain hunters.
I’ve just often been subject to a similar response from leftists, even back when I wasn’t political at all. That’s what I meant by not infallible.
I don’t know if the Seals have that ability but I remember hearing, years ago, that they had to go through quite an extensive re-programming before they were discharged from the service.
Our military had to do that regularly when Iraq was nearly lawless.
"Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea."
"Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making. In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like." --Barbara Mackoff
Hi gg ...see my post above ... Gladwell calls it “thin-slicing.” Interesting stuff. ;)
That I could understand, but my mind first pictured a normal backyard barbecue or wedding.
How could anybody maintain that kind of alertness and awareness? Not a pleasant person to be around....LOL!
So .. When will they be testing the ‘Rangers’!?
bttt
“The brains of elite soldiers can respond faster to signs of anger than normal,’
This makes no sense. Is “anger” a misspelling? Did the writer mean “danger?”
I don’t recall any mission where grunts had gone out looking for signs of “anger.”
Maybe he meant “hanger.” After flying around, elite soldiers look for the signs of a “hanger?”
Could it be “manger.” After elite soldiers walked the sheep to pasture and they got a drink at the river, they respond faster to signs showing the way to the “manger.”
Unconfuse me someone.
LOL! Just don’t make any sudden moves.
Have a son that was navy and worked the flight deck of an Aircraft carrier...if your not alert your dead. You act on training and instinct without having to think what should I do... But the worse was night flight landings...scary as hell......
Hi Daffy, thanks I am always looking for a good book...put that page in my favorites so I can order later...GG
No. There is no 'High IQ' requirement. In fact many would counter that all our Special Ops 'soldiers' have LOW IQs for the danger they put their own lives in every day. (that's a joke)
'series'. But just consider this:
To be a Navy SEAL or an Army 'Green Beret, you first must make the rank of E5 if an enlisted man. That in itself shows you have some leadership skills. And you must pass Jump School and go through many 'Specialty Schools'. Like in the Army's SF you must know another language -- which they will teach you -- in addition to all the other qualifications and tests you must pass, PLUS your main MOS (Military occupational Specialty). And at any step along the way you can 'flunk out', starting with Jump School.
We have a life long friend who was a career Soldier and retired after 30 years as a First Sergeant, E-8, and he almost made Sergeant Major, E-9. He spent most of that in the Special Forces. First in the 5th SF Group then in the 10th SF Group. He knows Four Languages -- Fluently. The only Army Language School he had to attend was for Russian(1). His 'main' MOS was 18E - Communication Sergeant and his secondary SF specialty was Engineer Sergeant, 18C (blowing stuff up). And while he was in the SF he also became a certified Army SCUBA Diver (kinda like an Army SEAL). He first enlisted at 17 and went to Vietnam near the end. And then 're-upped' and made the Army his home(2).Now Navy SEALS don't go through all the Schools like in the Army Special Forces as their mission objectives are different. SEALS are like Army Rangers on steroids (not a slam) but you can't be an idiot to be a SEAL, Ranger or Marine Force Recon (Any US Military Special Operation Force).His only 'formal education' was as far as a Chicago High School but I'd wager his "IQ" is on 'the high side'. /s
So no there's no 'High IQ Requirement' to be a SEAL.
But as you you can see: Idiots Need Not Apply
(1) He speaks English, German, Lithuanian and Russian
(2) He now the Mayor of a town in _____, that I cant name :-)
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