Dancing With The Lizard: Flying and Your Brain
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I am not a doctor or a scientist, but in doing some research for another project I learned some interesting things about the brain that translates to this grand endeavor we call flying.
The Cerebral Cortex, the largest area of the brain, is where most thinking functions occur. The cortex consists of four lobes:
– The Frontal Lobe controls emotion, motivation, social functioning, expression of behavior, voluntary movement, and “executive” functions, such as initiation, planning, thought organization, and decision-making
– The Temporal Lobe controls memory, receptive language, sequencing, and musical awareness
– The Parietal Lobe controls sensation, academic skills such as reading, hearing, and awareness of spatial relationships
– The Occipital Lobe controls visual perception
This is all the stuff that you use to fly the airplane.
The limbic system, which houses many parts including what Neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean calls the reptilian or lizard brain, is deep inside our existing brains and is claimed to be the oldest part. This is the area responsible for very primitive functions, one of which is our fight-or-flight response. This hair-trigger response served us well when we needed to flee from the saber tooth tiger, but in today’s world it isn’t as necessary and often gets in the way. There are all kinds of other nasty physical and psychological things that occur with our limbic brain kicks into high gear, but we’ll focus on what’s detrimental to us pilots.
One of the key dangers of the fight-or-flight response is once it’s activated it begins to bypass our rational mind. It also exaggerates fear and distorts our thoughts. Panic can ensue.
Panicking at the controls of an airplane is akin to poring gasoline on yourself and lighting it – nothing good is going to happen. I wonder how many airplanes have come down as a result of a panic-stricken pilot. We’ll never really know as the reports just say, “VFR into IMC” or “pilot error” or “loss of control” or “structural failure.” They never say, “the pilot froze up” or “the pilot panicked.”
Since unlike tonsils, we aren’t going to remove our amygdala from our limbic brain, we must figure out how to avoid triggering the primitive parts when we should be using the more rational and reason-based sections of our grey matter. To be fair, we need this function, as some fear to keep us safe. It’s a key component of survival, even today, but runaway fear, particularly in an aircraft is not conducive to longevity.
For a pilot, one of the best countermeasures is self-confidence. If we are confident in what we are doing we won’t be likely to hit the panic button triggering primitive brain responses. Too much self-confidence can obviously put us into situations where our brains are writing checks our bodies can’t cash, so it’s all about staying in balance.
How do we get a good balance of self-confidence? I’m glad you asked.
– Flying more: Easier said than done sometimes, but more stick time equals more skill and that takes a load off the old lizard brain
– Training: Stay in the books and keep yourself in a quasi state of training. Go out and practice your craft
– Exploration: Fly different types or categories of aircraft. This is a huge confidence builder
– Practice on Instruments: If you are an Instrument pilot you need to keep your instrument skills sharp. This is not the place to skimp on currency if you plan to fly in the soup
– Know Thy Aircraft: The better you know your machine the more confident you’ll be if things start to go wrong
– Experience: Along the lines of flying more, but in a broader sense. Having more experience certainly provides a foundation to remain confident when the crap hits the fan
Another countermeasure is good judgement – not something easy to teach. Poor judgement is likely the best source of natural selection among pilots. If you make bad decisions, thus putting yourself into scary situations, you are certainly flirting with the reptile in you.
Other strategies for care and feeding of the lizard brain include:
– Flying with other pilots: Flying with another pilot generally boosts your feeling of security (hopefully not in a “hey, watch this” kind of way). Not to mention that it provides help if you need it
– Be thorough: Doing a good preflight, getting a good weather briefing, etc. These things will serve you well when things aren’t going great. Fear of the unknown can be powerful, so make sure you know what’s going on. Eliminate surprises
– Don’t fly broken aircraft: If launch with a known mechanical issue and something starts going more wrong…let’s just say you won’t feel real confident
– Avoid pushing weather: One of the best way to tickle your Limbic brain is to throw yourself into crappy weather. Things can go to crap in a hurry and even though these Technically Advanced Aircraft theoretically keep us safer through more and better information, it also can encourage going where angels fear to tread
There are even coping strategies that you can use to help get your neo-cortex back into the driver’s seat, if needed, but for pilots it’s best we work the prevention side and keep the lizard calm.
Do you have techniques for keeping your cool in the cockpit? Throw them down below in the comments.
by Brent Owens <click on my name to email me>
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Getting sufficient sleep. Nothing good comes out of not giving your brain adequate rest.
Sri,
Excellent suggestion! That is so true.
Thanks!
Brent
I love brain studies! Okay… my tip, which for pilots may be a challenge, but don’t go over the edge on caffeine. Too much can transfer to the edge of anxiety which messes with the nervous system, impacting the reaction response. This means coffee and chocolate. Good health is essential, and the best way to get that is exercise! Which not only makes everything function better, but provides oxygen to the brain. Keeping your body strong and physically fit will help with brain function and performance. The need for sleep is essential. There is nothing worse for coordination than sleep deprivation. If you do have a panic attack… take slow deep breaths and talk to yourself. Give yourself tasks. “Fly level.” “Look for flat surface to land.” If you see someone panicking during a crisis this is a great technique to get them out of it… give them directions to do something, even if it’s the smallest detail of action. Might just work for you.
Karlene,
Wow that’s a great set of tips, both preventative and coping strategies!
Perfect!
Brent
Excellent points by everyone. Having experienced a couple of these panic situations in “regular” life, I certainly would not want to set myself up for when in the air. It is quite overwhelming. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Mike! That’s a perfect illustration. In thinking more about this how much did this play into Air France 447 out over the dark Atlantic in nasty tropical weather? Or Asian freezing up and flying into the rocks short of the runway at SFO?
Brent
When I was a student, I found that following a prioritized approach (or “checklist” – if you will) helped me keep my cool in the cockpit. The Air Force teaches that in an emergency – which is probably where you’re going to lose your cool – you should 1) Maintain aircraft control 2) Analyze the situation 3) Take the appropriate action 4) Land as soon as conditions permit. It’s easy to remember and it helps you prioritize your thoughts. This is, in essence, the proverbial hip-pocket game plan a lot of pilots talk about when anticipating an abnormal situation. I still use it today!
Rob,
Having a plan, especially a simple one, is an awesome coping strategy! This is a real-world deal and very effective. Great comment!
Brent
Nobody likes being pushed or stressed, but I pay particular attention to that when I’m training people to fly, regardless of whether it’s a primary student or an advanced inverted spin course. I’m looking for calm, thoughtful action and the adoption of that PIC mantle. It’s interesting how a bad night’s sleep, poor hydration, or other stressors can turn what would normally be a proper aviator into something quite different.
Ron,
Great points indeed. As an active instructor you certainly see you share of stress responses in students. I agree that the a number of things can make you more vulnerable.
Brent
In the summer of 2011 I provided a presentation at the Royal Aeronautical Society titled “The Psychological Limits of Flight Simulation”. I am basically just a pilot type, but I learned a lot researching this topic. Most professional pilots receive their training almost exclusively in simulators beyond some point in their career, and these devices have allowed immeasurable improvements to aviation safety. Any pilot that has been challenged in “the box” knows you can come out with a sweaty back, but at some level you know that you are not in mortal danger. This allows our brain to work differently in the simulator, using our rational functions, than it will in an emergency when the lizard brain (amygdala) is in charge. This fact emphasizes the importance of some experience of all-attitude/all-envelope training in an actual airplane early in a professional pilot’s career. There is nothing like having been there before to provide a mental model in the face of an unexpected airplane upset event.
For anyone looking for more information on this topic, I recommend the book Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger by Jeff Wise. I used this reference a lot in preparing the presentation mentioned above.
Randall Brooks, APS VP Training and Business DevelopmentAviation Performance Solutions
Randall,
Thanks for commenting! I couldn’t agree more. Sounds like a great presentation. I have actually gone through one of the APS courses in AZ in October – it was amazing! Getting to actually do the stuff in the aircraft is impossible to beat.
Brent