Hacking and Slashing
How stress makes programmers dumber: http://the-programmers-stone.com/about/
The first post is about the neuroscience behind this. The article states that the pre-frontal cortex can function in one of two ways. The first way has a low level of background excitation and localized areas of high excitation during focused-attention. The second way has medium level of backgorund excitation all over, and it is good for tasks involving "cognitive flexibility" and memory. http://the-programmers-stone.com/about/neuroscience/ Stress -- that is, the presence of norepinephrine -- switches the PFC from the second mode out into the first mode. As a fight-or-flight response, this is useful for focusing you on "what do I do next". If the training is good, the next step is obvious.
While the article talks about this within the context of programming, I've found this useful in other contexts. Strategy games certainly require "cognitive flexibility" and memory. Weiqi practioners are advised to keep their composure during the game, and that's definitely a game that exercises "cognitive flexibility".
This also explains to me a curious thing I've found while learning martial arts. Learning new forms and applications, particularly bagua is incredibly difficult. I feel like I'm moving through molassas, and I'm expending a lot of energy just to understand a new set of movement and how they are used. The Gao Mother Palms have always been consistently and significantly harder than the Gao Linears for me. However, once learned to a reasonble degree, practicing them becomes increasingly easier and easier. In a lot of cases, there are advanced forms that are composed or recombined from earlier, more basic forms, and they typically feel easier.
Learning requires a lot of associations and synthesis, both physically and mentally. However, it is usually under conditions of physical stress and to no small degree, mental stress. You're not just trying to grasp something that you never encountered before, you're dealing with trying to figure out how all the body parts and movements go together. Most people don't exercise their non-dominant hand, let along coordinating that with the same-side legs and opposite-side legs. Sometimes, emotional baggage such as embarrassment adds to the stress. Finally, if you have a good teacher, he is going to demonstrate the technique on you, adding physical stress into the bag.
Once the pieces becomes practiced enough that they become automatic, e.g. they can be performed smoothly and without gaps during focused-attention, that tends to free up the mind to be more creative. I've had that state pop up a couple times in the past, where it feels as if the creative or strategic side detaches from the stress of the moment. That part starts planning movements, yet it is not the kind of next-step-task-oriented planning you can see a mile away.
Fun stuff. I'll be looking into this more.
Namaste
The first post is about the neuroscience behind this. The article states that the pre-frontal cortex can function in one of two ways. The first way has a low level of background excitation and localized areas of high excitation during focused-attention. The second way has medium level of backgorund excitation all over, and it is good for tasks involving "cognitive flexibility" and memory. http://the-programmers-stone.com/about/neuroscience/ Stress -- that is, the presence of norepinephrine -- switches the PFC from the second mode out into the first mode. As a fight-or-flight response, this is useful for focusing you on "what do I do next". If the training is good, the next step is obvious.
While the article talks about this within the context of programming, I've found this useful in other contexts. Strategy games certainly require "cognitive flexibility" and memory. Weiqi practioners are advised to keep their composure during the game, and that's definitely a game that exercises "cognitive flexibility".
This also explains to me a curious thing I've found while learning martial arts. Learning new forms and applications, particularly bagua is incredibly difficult. I feel like I'm moving through molassas, and I'm expending a lot of energy just to understand a new set of movement and how they are used. The Gao Mother Palms have always been consistently and significantly harder than the Gao Linears for me. However, once learned to a reasonble degree, practicing them becomes increasingly easier and easier. In a lot of cases, there are advanced forms that are composed or recombined from earlier, more basic forms, and they typically feel easier.
Learning requires a lot of associations and synthesis, both physically and mentally. However, it is usually under conditions of physical stress and to no small degree, mental stress. You're not just trying to grasp something that you never encountered before, you're dealing with trying to figure out how all the body parts and movements go together. Most people don't exercise their non-dominant hand, let along coordinating that with the same-side legs and opposite-side legs. Sometimes, emotional baggage such as embarrassment adds to the stress. Finally, if you have a good teacher, he is going to demonstrate the technique on you, adding physical stress into the bag.
Once the pieces becomes practiced enough that they become automatic, e.g. they can be performed smoothly and without gaps during focused-attention, that tends to free up the mind to be more creative. I've had that state pop up a couple times in the past, where it feels as if the creative or strategic side detaches from the stress of the moment. That part starts planning movements, yet it is not the kind of next-step-task-oriented planning you can see a mile away.
Fun stuff. I'll be looking into this more.
Namaste