The Impact Of Inhibition Across Different Domains | Know the Brain’s Braking System!

"There is a saying in Delhi – that because of heavy traffic and its unruliness, people drive on the roads here more with their brakes than the accelerator.Today, as I observed myself consciously in the acts of inhibitions I almost felt like that"

It appeared that perhaps I use my VLPFC (Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) more than any other part of my cortical brain.

Right in the morning as the alarm rang, I found myself agonizing over should I go for the jog, or steal another hour of sleep before another awfully full day. With so many thoughts to and fro... perhaps my frontal cortex short circuited and I fell back to sleep. Then,  as if in almost a fit, I yanked the quilt off me, got out of bed to prepare to run, as I had promised myself to lose another 2 kg of weight this fortnight. 

At the breakfast spread at the hotel buffet my stretched hand, which though had started to grab a croissant, went past it....and picked a boiled egg....as the VLPFC put brakes in the path of unnecessary calories going into my body.

In the program, a participant made a comment about a real issue he had, I glossed over it as I wanted to finish the section in time, but the brain’s braking system put the jam, reminding me that we are in the program to solve real challenges and not merely to tick some agenda items... I stopped and called on him to detail his challenge and involved everyone in the discussion. Later at the airport, found my flight is delayed. I thought of buying an earlier flight ticket, but the price of making a last minute booking, and the loss on cancelling an existing ticket made me stop.

It is amazing that once you start noticing, you realize how much the VLPFC guards you from going astray...and how grateful we should be to this Brain’s Braking System.

The Role of Amygdala at the Workplace

They say-

Don’t complain about the situation.Don’t bring your personal pain in the way of the deliveries.

Yet, feel excited about reaching a goal, determined in the face of challenges and have camaraderie with colleagues.

If the limbic system was kept at home while entering the workplace none of this would happen.

How does one still maximize opportunities and produce good action?

The Low route (stimuli travels straight from the Sensory Cortex to Basal Ganglia) and High route (stimuli travels through Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampus to Basal Ganglia) of the Limbic response provide another insight. The challenge still is, in the command an individual has to develop in the making of a conscious choice – which route is better in this context.

For Example: On the back of a bad quarter, a customer is about to return a large consignment.  Should one panic and plead with the customer to instead accept a lifetime free service guarantee. Or,   replace the consignment and win the sale maybe in the next quarter?!

This is the ability to move the decision to the high route (more thinking and judgement).

Soon after a soul stirring, passionate, exhorting call by the sales director, to give a final shot in the last quarter – when the market has not been very favorable and the logic seems to only show a wall – keeping the Prefrontal Cortex quiet and pulling yourself into the next customer door, on the other hand needs one to take the low route.

This is where the insight gets all powerful.

The realization that there is No Reality out there...it is all in the response that my brain had to the stimuli which will define My Actions, and often My Results.

What does minimizing danger and maximizing reward mean in the workplace?

Dr. Evian Gordon’s model of the Brain 1-2-4 where the one guiding principle of the brain is to minimize danger and maximize rewards, two modes in which the brain processes information are – the unconscious and the conscious, and the four processes the brain undertakes are emotions, feelings, thinking, and self regulation create a very interesting opportunity to know and train your brain. While this awareness that feelings, thinking and self-regulation are conscious processes and therefore we should be more mindful of what is going on with them, and take control of the actions and results more often – can definitely improve effectiveness and moods is evident, I am particularly interested in the working of the emotions.

Emotions are explained, in the Gordon’s model, as the hard-wired reactions we have to the various stimuli around us. A noise in the bush – as we walk in a jungle on a bright day – makes us alert – rushes blood to the muscles preparing us to run, and dilates our pupils to be able to see more clearly, can be one of the example of the hardwiring we have received over the genetic conditioning from our environment, and our need for safety. The interesting question is - Is there some significant hardwiring that we have developed unconsciously as we have grown in this life...eerie silence in a board meeting, a boss who is pointing his finger animatedly as he talks, colleagues who are murmuring at the coffee machine and become quiet as you approach them. Are there some of these contexts which are unique to me... and get me all stressed up? What gets my goat – perhaps unnecessarily, while I am at work?

Unraveling some of my own ‘hot buttons’ which may be getting me into a panic state, and regulating my reaction to them, could be an interesting exercise ...that may improve my effectiveness at work...and that too from a completely hitherto unknown domain.

The Importance of Certainty and Autonomy in Leadership

In my observations, often the purpose of leadership in the organisation is to lead a team in adversity or in a challenging environment. When the going is good most people wish to be on their own. They also get relatively more freedom to take decisions, chose their own approach to their deliverables and have less pressures or penalty for non-performance. Somehow the good results of others tends to take care of the averages...When the going is tough – then due to fear of failure or accountability many people tend to become less certain of what action they should be taking, and the inaction (both overt and covert) sometimes becomes the reason for even more sluggish performance
and a more uncertain future. To break out of this cycle, the situation needs decision-making....which is the hallmark of leadership.
The SCARF model for human motivation points out two approaches leaders adopt. They may seek more certainty – a prediction of what is likely to happen (the objective of the insula in the brain), to better prepare to handle the situation, or they seek Autonomy (a PFC activity) – where they prepare to take charge, in any eventuality.

The human need to know what is about to happen (Certainty) has made the world full of communication today. Most news by its nature provides information with the purpose of predicting the future. The popularity of the various projections, whether it is weather or
stock markets movement, and everything in-between, is to provide some semblance of order, and therefore a calmer insula activity. Leaders use market research, sales forecast, even consultants armed with business models to keep getting some handle on the future.

The strategy (or creating a framework for response) and the business plan (clarity on action) – are tools for seeking autonomy. What will we do...as proactive behaviour to ensure some influence and control on what will emerge in the future. Dealing with all these tools is essentially the job-description of the company’s leadership.

Insights on the Neuroscience of the Social Brain

Speaking of the capability of the human brain, these are some of the fundamental characteristics: 

• The folded nature (with the gyrus and sulcei) – creating a much higher surface area
• The ability to create new connections with neurons (neuroplasticity) as and when you need.
• & What amazes me the most is the substitutability of the various functionalities of the brain parts if any part gets damaged.

The purpose of the social brain is to have positive and efficacious human interactions. 

This combines the thinking ‘C response’ brain (Lateral, Medial, dorso-medial Pre-frontal cortex, Anterior Cingulate Cortex, and parts of parietal cortex) functionalities with the more instantly reactive ‘X response’ Limbic system (the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus). The most important ability to make social interactions more effective is to bring some sense of conscious control in the ‘without any reigns Emotional Reactions’. The ability to provide higher order response (stimulations to sensory cortex to frontal cortex to hippocampus and basal ganglia) can be tough when emotions are running high.The other crucial aspect of the neuroscience during social interactions is ‘How much is your blood boiling?’ The raging hormones in the blood (glucocorticoids (e.g., cortisol), adrenaline & noradrenaline, oxytocins, estrogen & testosterone) can make the social interactions most rewarding (to instil courage, positivity, drive) or can make one dysfunctional (fear, anxiety, depression). 

The Awareness of this Neurochemistry is important as once You Know your Brain, you'd be able to Train your Brain.

The most intriguing part though as one learns more and more about the Neuroscience is the principle of Cause and Effect vs. Correlation? 

• Does the presence of a particular hormone in the blood cause the emotion? or 
• Does the presence of the emotion cause the increase in the hormone presence? 

The London cab driver research on more than normal spatial intelligence and the bigger size of the DLPFC (Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [the front side of your brain]), does not resolve fully all doubts & questions of whether it is correlation or causal.

And hence still remains a crucial question in the study of the Anatomy of the brain.  

Till Next time,

NeoSynapses

P.S- Happy New Year Folks!!!

Hope its an Amazing one!!!