Emotional inteligence
56/661falling—illustrates the power of the amygdala to propelus to action in emergencies, vital moments before theneocortex has time to fully register what is actually goingon. The emergency route from eye or ear to thalamusto amygdala is crucial: it saves time in an emergency,when an instantaneous response is required. Butthis circuit from thalamus to amygdala carries only asmall portion of sensory messages, with the majoritytaking the main route up to the neocortex. So what registersin the amygdala via this express route is, at best,a rough signal, just enough for a warning. As LeDouxpoints out, "You don't need to know exactly whatsomething is to know that it may be dangerous." 10The direct route has a vast advantage in brain time,which is reckoned in thousandths of a second. The amygdalain a rat can begin a response to a perception in aslittle as twelve milliseconds—twelve thousandths of asecond. The route from thalamus to neocortex to amygdalatakes about twice as long. Similar measurementshave yet to be made in the human brain, but the roughratio would likely hold.In evolutionary terms, the survival value of this directroute would have been great, allowing a quick-responseoption that shaves a few critical milliseconds in reactiontime to dangers. Those milliseconds could well havesaved the lives of our protomammalian ancestors in
57/661such numbers that this arrangement is now featured inevery mammalian brain, including yours and mine. Infact, while this circuit may play a relatively limited rolein human mental life, largely restricted to emotionalcrises, much of the mental life of birds, fish, and reptilesrevolves around it, since their very survival depends onconstantly scanning for predators or prey. "This primitive,minor brain system in mammals is the main brainsystem in non-mammals," says LeDoux. "It offers a veryrapid way to turn on emotions. But it's a quick-and-dirtyprocess; the cells are fast, but not very precise."Such imprecision in, say, a squirrel, is fine, since itleads to erring on the side of safety, springing away atthe first sign of anything that might signal a looming enemy,or springing toward a hint of something edible. Butin human emotional life that imprecision can have disastrousconsequences for our relationships, since itmeans, figuratively speaking, we can spring at or awayfrom the wrong thing—or person. (Consider, for example,the waitress who dropped a tray of six dinnerswhen she glimpsed a woman with a huge, curly mane ofred hair—exactly like the woman her ex-husband hadleft her for.)Such inchoate emotional mistakes are based on feelingprior to thought. LeDoux calls it "precognitive emotion,"a reaction based on neural bits and pieces of
- Page 6 and 7: WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY12. The Famil
- Page 8 and 9: 8/661the rich possibilities the cit
- Page 10 and 11: 10/661this erratic tide of outburst
- Page 12 and 13: 12/661has rushed a welter of self-h
- Page 14 and 15: 14/661quantum level in physics, alt
- Page 16 and 17: 16/661the emotional and social skil
- Page 18 and 19: PART ONETHE EMOTIONAL BRAIN
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- Page 22 and 23: 22/661But Bobby Crabtree and his wi
- Page 24 and 25: at the Crabtree household. In short
- Page 26 and 27: 26/661the face blanch as blood is s
- Page 28 and 29: 28/661These biological propensities
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- Page 32 and 33: 32/661To better grasp the potent ho
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- Page 36 and 37: 36/661the family unit and the long-
- Page 38 and 39: 2Anatomy of an Emotional HijackingL
- Page 40 and 41: moment passes, those so possessed h
- Page 42 and 43: 42/661feeling, as well as any feeli
- Page 44 and 45: 44/661It is in moments such as thes
- Page 46 and 47: 46/661did he realize that the girl
- Page 48 and 49: 48/661LeDoux overturned the prevail
- Page 50 and 51: original signal goes straight from
- Page 52 and 53: messages from the brain to regulate
- Page 54 and 55: 54/661memories date from the first
- Page 58 and 59: sensory information that have not b
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- Page 66 and 67: 66/661the amygdala, whatever the ne
- Page 68 and 69: PART TWOTHE NATURE OFEMOTIONALINTEL
- Page 70 and 71: 70/661After transferring to a priva
- Page 72 and 73: course it accounts for. But what da
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- Page 86 and 87: you get that are essential for inte
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- Page 94 and 95: 4Know ThyselfA belligerent samurai,
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- Page 100 and 101: 100/661Temple University, to assess
- Page 102 and 103: 102/661Gary was emotionally flat, c
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falling—illustrates the power of the amygdala to propel
us to action in emergencies, vital moments before the
neocortex has time to fully register what is actually going
on. The emergency route from eye or ear to thalamus
to amygdala is crucial: it saves time in an emergency,
when an instantaneous response is required. But
this circuit from thalamus to amygdala carries only a
small portion of sensory messages, with the majority
taking the main route up to the neocortex. So what registers
in the amygdala via this express route is, at best,
a rough signal, just enough for a warning. As LeDoux
points out, "You don't need to know exactly what
something is to know that it may be dangerous." 10
The direct route has a vast advantage in brain time,
which is reckoned in thousandths of a second. The amygdala
in a rat can begin a response to a perception in as
little as twelve milliseconds—twelve thousandths of a
second. The route from thalamus to neocortex to amygdala
takes about twice as long. Similar measurements
have yet to be made in the human brain, but the rough
ratio would likely hold.
In evolutionary terms, the survival value of this direct
route would have been great, allowing a quick-response
option that shaves a few critical milliseconds in reaction
time to dangers. Those milliseconds could well have
saved the lives of our protomammalian ancestors in
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