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 ...
Be polite but always have a plan to kill everyone in the room.
I (heart) Navy Seals! 8-}
Let’s get that out of the way right away. Is my smile big enough 8-?
Ping.
Our special forces guys are flat out astonishing, in many ways. I'm VERY glad they're on our side.
I (heart) our military!
I don’t know if it is part of their training - but in any dangerous profession, such as police, one learns to carefully analyze body language, facial expressions, pitch of voice, posture, etc...
You talkin’ to me? You must be talkin’ to me.”
Being an active duty SEAL is a young man’s game. 90% are in their 20s. VERY few over 40.
Stop Child Trafficking Now partners with retired Navy SEALS to hunt down child rapists and bring them to justice.
“Be polite but always have a plan to kill everyone in the room.”
“Jacopo: I’ll run up to Paris - bam, bam, bam, bam. I’m back before week’s end. We spend the treasure. How is this a bad plan?”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245844/quotes
Gunfighter reflexes.
You made me laugh on that one. I don’t believe you can really train that into a soldier. I believe either they have it or they don’t. That’s why many wash out. Washing out isn’t bad, it’s just the way it is.
I tend to agree with you. I am just an elderly housewife, but can quickly “read” others. I was born with it unfortunately. I say that because my mother wasn’t pleased when I told her that her “best friend” really didn’t like her at all.
It still causes problems with relatives and friends, when I pick up on the difference between what they say they are feeling, and what they really are feeling. The biggest problem is that I have to struggle to decide which message sent should get my attention.
I wonder if Seals have similar difficulties in social interactions?
This is very interesting from the point of view of what has been called the “Telepathic-Empathic” scale. It is not ESP, but in ordinary human communication, it is the difference between “narrow band” and “wide band” communication.
A sort of common “telepathy” is the ability a lot of people have to correctly extrapolate data being given them by another person. Most often, those people who can complete your sentences when you are talking to them. They use some mental tricks to “fill in the blanks” and figure out what you are going to say.
It is very focused on speech alone, and information data in particular, and so can be called “narrow band”. Unfortunately, it has little or no error checking, which lends it to inaccuracy.
On the other side of the scale, and where these SEALs, and other elite forces fit it, is with “empathy” or “wide band” communication. They are simultaneously paying attention to all sorts of things, such as body language, speech inflection, eye movement, possibly their scent (subconsciously); and if there are more than one of them, how they are interacting with each other.
What they are saying is just another element, or part of this. From the point of view of the SEAL, for example, if they are saying that they are friendly, but most everything else is suggesting that they are not, the SEAL is going to be very alert for mischief.
Very wide band. But it would make a great deal of sense for an elite warrior to become very adept at empathy, because his life might depend on it.
That is a great gift, but be very careful with it. I've learned some hard lessons about it myself.
Best,
L
“
Be polite but always have a plan to kill everyone in the room.
“
Sounds like one of the snipers (in Iraq) that appeared on that two-hour
special on History Channel recently.
Basically the plan was (in so many words), to be polite, be professional
and be have a plan to kill anybody you see on the street.
My father was a policeman and he always said he could spot a criminal easily...but that criminals could spot an off duty cop just as easily...depends on weather your life depends on it or not I guess...
Neuro Linguistic Programming
I’ve always set off “cop vibes” but have never been in law enforcement. It’s not infallible.
ROFL! Can you imagine going thru life that jacked-up?
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