Fight or flight?_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Fight or flight?

We’ve all had occasion to tell ourselves or others to “take a deep breath” or to “count to 10” before exploding in rage. What Schwartz’s rule removes, though, is the need to reflect on whether or not we’re in such a situation. Instead, it recommends learning to interpret any sign of compulsive behaviour as an indication that the action is probably unwise. Rather than battling compulsion, it co-opts it as a warning system.

There’s still a small element of contradiction here: in the unthinking heat of survival mode, you can’t stand back enough even just to see that you’re acting compulsively. But the complete takeover of your brain by fight-or-flight usually lasts only a split second – enough time for the finger to reach for the mouse button, say, but not quite long enough to press it and send that ill-considered angry email. The crucial moment is the next split second, as reflective thinking kicks back in and you dimly perceive that you're acting compulsively. The Golden Rule of Triggers may be stupidly, laughably simple. But in that tiny gap between the total grip of survival mode and doing something you’ll regret, simple rules are all you’ll be capable of following.

- This column will change your life: The Golden Rule of Triggers, by Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian, June 4, 2011.

3. Measuring the brain activity of Republicans and Democrats while they played a game has revealed striking differences in each group’s cognitive functioning. The findings, appearing in the journal PLOS ONE, are the result of collaborative research by neuroscientists from the University of Exeter and the University of California, San Diego. They suggest that being a Republican or Democrat changes how the brain functions.