Category: Martial Arts

“We´´´´  re thieves,  we´ re rats. We know when to fight and when to run.”

Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard

Fighting – real physical combat between at least two people with the intention to inflict potentially deadly harm – is and has been an integral part of human history, nature, and culture. While warriors and their craft have been revered in the past, fighting today is morally and legally restricted in most forms. We professionalized fighting by creating the profession of the soldier, who is allowed to fight and kill legally. The only legal way for a non-soldier to fight is to be forced to fight in self-defense. Real fighting is very different from training martial arts with friends in a relaxed atmosphere. A real fight – with the prospect of being harmed or even killed – will trigger a cascade of ancient reactions in our bodies – preserved by evolution over millions of years – that we share with most of our animal cousins. If we do not prepare for these natural reactions, much of the martial arts training will be for naught, it will not be available in a real self-defense situation and our primal instincts will take over and rule our behavior. In this blog piece, I will explore the neurobiology of fighting, i.e. how our bodies trigger a danger response and how we thus react to danger instinctively. (In a follow-up blog post, I will infer from this how we can try to make our martial arts training more realistic to account for these reactions. This will make us better prepared for a real fight when we have to defend ourselves.)

Fight or Flight – The Classic Paradigm

Many people have probably heard about the “fight or flight” paradigm. This model of how we react to danger to our physical well-being was proposed by US-American physicist and physiologist Walter Bradford Cannon in 1915 based on his own research ¹. Essentially, the paradigm states that animals (and thus humans) will have a general response to a perceived threat which will always occur in the same way. There will be physiological and biochemical changes in the body to ensure maximal physical power and focus to either fight or to run away from the perceived threat.

To understand the paradigm in more detail we need to understand first a few biochemical and physiological processes that happen in these situations. If we need a quick response to something that happens around us and affects us (called a stimulus), we face a natural problem. Our main computing unit, our central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), which computes from sensory inputs targeted motor outputs, is pretty far away from those organs that can provide the physical response, namely our muscles and other organs. Here, there are two ways of how our brain can communicate with the rest of the body to ensure timely and fitting responses to stimuli. On one hand, we have nerves that provide fine-tuned information to our organs and muscles for specific tasks. And on the other hand, some organs can release hormones. These are biochemical compounds that are released into the bloodstream and thus reach all organs within a short amount of time. Albeit being slower than a specific nerve response, hormones have the advantage that they can regulate the state of the whole body once released and distributed via the bloodstream.
To summarize: To ensure a proper reaction to danger, we can utilize a nervous response and a hormonal response. Let´ s have a look at both of them.

The Nervous Response: The Sympathetic System

You are probably aware of the fact that there are certain bodily functions that you have no or very limited control over. You can´ t tell your stomach not to digest your lunch, but you could – if you wanted – keep your both fists clenched the whole day. These bodily functions outside of conscious control are regulated by the so-called autonomic nervous system. In essence, our whole body, all organs, are innervated by a fine web of nerves belonging to two main parts of the autonomic nervous system which are called the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. Both systems are usually in balance to ensure what is called homeostasis which in turn is a fancy word for balance and means in this context to keep all physiological parameters within normal conditions. When, however, the fight or flight response needs to kick in, then the sympathetic nervous system is strongly activated (The parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, is responsible for the exact opposite, which is often called the “rest and digest” response). As stated before, however, we also need a hormonal actor, so let´ s look at who that is.

The Hormonal Response: Adrenaline

Next to our kidneys are small organs called the adrenal glands. Adrenal means in latin simply “next to the kidneys”. And one of their main functions is to release adrenaline². This hormone which most people know plays a crucial part in the fight-and-flight response. Almost all tissues in the body have on the surface of their cells special proteins that fit to adrenaline like a lock to a key³ and will trigger specific danger/stress-related responses. How is a timely release of adrenaline ensured? As we have explored in the last section, if we want to react in the fastest way possible to make a remote organ to fulfill a specific task, we need a nervous response. So, the main way to release adrenaline is by activation through nerve fibers of the sympathetic nervous system.

Fight-or-Flight – Physiological responses

In reality, how the fight-or-flight response is triggered, is much more complex as described above, but keeping in mind that the main actors are the sympathetic nervous system and adrenaline is definitely sufficient when interpreting its actions in terms of a martial arts perspective.⁴
So, what happens actually in the body, when this response is triggered? A plethora of actions can be observed, I will only summarize those with relevance to fighting⁵:

• Acceleration of heart and lung function (increased heart rate, blood pressure and ventilation)
• Dilation of blood vessels in muscles (better flow of nutrition and disposal of metabolic waste)
• Constriction of blood vessels parts of the body not related to muscles and physical action
• Liberation of metabolic energy sources (particularly fat and glycogen from the liver) for muscular action
• Inhibition of the lacrimal gland (responsible for tear production) and salivation
• Relaxation of bladder
• Auditory exclusion (loss of hearing)
• Tunnel vision (loss of peripheral vision)
• Dilation of the pupil (mydriasis)
• Shaking, loss of fine-tuned movements and increased muscle tension
• Increase of aggression and loss of rational thinking (RAGE system)

In essence, what we become is a shaking bundle of rage full of energy, wanting to make big and strong movements, totally focused on the perceived danger with tunnel vision and loss of hearing, ready to either destroy or flee, and we might pee ourselves during the process. Something to look forward to…
Importantly, however, the loss of rational thinking means that the appropriate reaction will not be chosen rationally, but instinctively. The total opposite of what we are usually taught in martial arts training! But we will come back to that later.

The biochemical and physiological processes that lead to the fight-or-flight response are well understood and established today. The shortcomings of this model are not on the side of biology, but rather on the side of the number of potential responses to the physiological changes. So let´ s add some Fs to the response!

Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn – The Extended 4F Paradigm

Maybe you have been reading so far and were already thinking, yes, yes, this is very interesting, but I have watched a lot of discovery channel and I often see animals behaving very differently. They are neither fleeing or fighting, but rather just stand still and do not react at all!
And you are absolutely correct. When actually observing animals (and thus humans) we have found since the discoveries of Cannon in 1915 that we instinctively have a broader range of reactions to danger than just fighting and fleeing. Freezing – what I have described above – and fawning can be added to come up with a 4F model of reaction to danger. This model is also popular in the field of PTSD therapy, where PTSD can be seen as a state of continuous activation of the danger response.⁶.

Freeze

Freezing is the reaction where we maintain complete stillness while having a high muscle tone at the same time⁷. This behavior can be a highly appropriate reaction to danger. Many predators are triggered by running prey and their perception is often tailored to find moving targets but not those standing still. This is especially true when considering that a predator is also using adrenaline for maximum physical power and will also suffer from tunnel vision. Also in humans, this response is known. There are often reports stating that people survived shooting sprees by playing dead.

Fawn

Fawning is a bit harder to grasp. It is defined as to “give a servile display of exaggerated flattery or affection, typically in order to gain favor”⁸. In the context of danger, it means to defer to the attacker in a way as to acknowledge the dominance of the attacker to avoid physical harm. This refers to a very atavistic ritual part of fighting which is often seen in animals and humans as well. From an evolutionary perspective, it is not the best to always have a full-blown fight, even if you are the stronger one! Wounds can lead to death through infection even when a fight was won. Deferring to the dominant person without getting physical will lead to the same outcome and none of the combatants is harmed.

Freeze, Fight, Flight, Fright, Fawn and Faint – Please bear with me, the 6F paradigm is the last, I promise…

Is the 4F paradigm good? Yes. Is it sufficient? No.
It was – in my opinion rightfully pointed out – that freeze is not a good name for the before mentioned reaction as a _short_ freeze almost always happens as part of the first reaction to danger when we are startled. Thus, every danger response starts with a short freeze. What was called freeze before will now be called fright. So we would end up with:
Freeze, Fight, Flight, Fright, and Fawn. BUT we will add another reaction that is interestingly unique to humans and does not need much explanation: Faint.⁹.

So, our final model is the 6F model to danger:
First, we freeze shortly, and then we will either fight, run away, do absolutely nothing, try to avoid fighting by showing deference or we will faint.

But which one of these reactions will happen?

And how is it related to martial arts training?

This I will explore in the upcoming blog post: “The Neurobiology of Fighting – Part II: How to tame the Autonomic Beast”.

Appendix

Here is the promised appendix. So, in the end, things are a bit more complex and I would like to touch upon this as recently there was a viral – pretty bad – news headline going around that “our bones help us fighting”¹⁰.

So, let´ s explore in a bit more detail, how the danger response is triggered. The important concept here is the one of the equilibrium that I have already mentioned. This means that the sympathetic system and the parasympathetic system are in balance. Imagine two – equally strong – opponents pushing against each other with the same strength. Nothing will happen. Now, if you make one the first person stronger, then naturally this person would push the other one away. So, to elicit a danger response, – as outlined in detail above – sympathetic reactions are triggered in the body through sympathetic nerve fibers and adrenaline, making the sympathetic system being stronger than the parasympathetic one.

So far, so simple. However, what would make the shove even stronger? Exactly, if we not only made the first person stronger but at the same time the second person weaker. And indeed, this can be done by weakening the parasympathetic system! The main finding of the related scientific article[/efn_note]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1550413119304413?via%3Dihub[/efn_note] was that the release of osteocalcin, a hormone produced in the bones, leads to a weakening of the parasympathetic system thus tipping the balance also in favor of a danger response.

I would claim that it is not more bizarre to use a hormone produced in the bones (osteocalcin) than to use a hormone produced in the adrenal glands (adrenalin) to elicit a danger response.
Also, this makes much sense from an evolutionary perspective. To have a danger response was crucial for survival. So, having two systems working together ensured that one can compensate for the other. And indeed, in humans and animals without adrenal glands still danger responses could be elicited. The discovery of the osteocalcin effect can explain that.

So, definitely interesting findings, but nothing weird or bizarre in my opinion!

“The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: Break a pattern.”

Chip and Dan Heath

Theories – also called models – are beautiful scientific concepts. Based on scientific evidence and its interpretation they provide frameworks to understand a snippet of the world¹¹. And they are not about right or wrong, they are about usefulness. A good model is a useful model.

There is much that we do not know yet about our brains. Thus, there is no unifying theory of our mind. Depending on the scale that we apply many different theories can be useful, ranging from high-level psychological models down to a model of cell function. For example, a very simple model of how neurons – our brain cells – work was developed already in the 30s of the last century by McCulloch and Pitts. And this model is at the basis of the current artificial intelligence (AI) breakthroughs leading to a new industrial revolution¹². Simple and useful.

Another simple and useful way is to see the brain as a master of patterns. The underlying model is called “Pattern activation/recognition theory of mind”. It was introduced by one of the pioneers of AI, Ray Kurzweil, in his book “How to create a mind”¹³ and was extended in 2015 by Bertrand Du Castel¹⁴. In my opinion, this theory is a highly underrated work of Kurzweil whose reputation has suffered due to his pompous nature and his focus on the singularity and transhumanism¹⁵. In “How to create a mind”, Kurzweil provides the theory of how perception as a higher brain function is organized in hierarchical pattern recognition units. Taking reading as an example, lower level units would recognize single letters and higher level units would recognize words. Even higher level units would provide predictions about which words are likely to follow given the previous sequence of words. And the highest level would allow understanding of context and topics. While Kurzweil talks only about perception in his book, Du Castel extends Kurzweil´´ s model by adding a mathematical framework that can also model motoric function. Hence the name “Pattern activation/recognition theory of mind” (PARTM). Du Castel´s framework can model sensory stimuli, i.e. perception, as well as motor function, i.e. movement.

What is the neuroscientific evidence supporting PARTM? I will not go into full detail since this the answer alone could fill a book, I will only touch upon the evidence briefly. To execute higher brain function, we need certain parts of the brain to work together. One is the neocortex, which is the typical gyrated surface of the brain that is well known from most depictions of the brain. Other necessary areas are the less well-known deep nuclei of the brain, accumulations of brain cells deep in the brain. Elegant studies in monkeys have taught us that specialized areas of the neocortex are connected with specialized (parts of) deep nuclei of the brain in loops¹⁶. Importantly, the neuroanatomical structure of these loops is not different for different brain areas! Thus, the sensory functions of the brain are neuroanatomically organized the same way as motoric functions and the same way as memory or social functions. Additionally, the neocortex is organized in a similar laminar and columnar way throughout the neocortex¹⁷. Also, when the primary motor cortex is artificially activated we see single movements of muscles. When the supplementary motor cortex or pre-motor cortex are activated, we see sequences of movements. For visual perception, the hierarchical nature of how visual information is deconstructed and analyzed in increasing complexity in a sequence of neocortical areas is well established. Lastly, we know the phenomenon of ‘plasticity’. If brain damage occurs early in life, areas of the brain usually specialized on a certain task can easily take over the function of other areas. In the extreme, we know cases where children have had one brain hemisphere surgically removed and could not be distinguished in a later age from their peers.

Given these neuroanatomical similarities, it is likely that we are dealing with a general principle, where hierarchical units perceive and execute patterns of increasing complexity for every function and task. And thus we are highly sensitive to patterns: We are startled by bad grammar, perplexed by unusual movement, intrigued by unexpected social behavior, and we are entertained by the unexpected pun. Break the pattern, get attention!

Let´ s not forget, however, that no model of the brain is unifying. PARTM is a limited model as well, with gaps and uncertainties, that cannot explain brain function fully. But let´ s also not forget that every model should be judged according to its usefulness. And while PARTM has certainly been an inspiration for the development of AI¹⁸, I will in the following explore the usefulness of PARTM in an area where it has to my knowledge not been done so far, namely for Martial Arts.

“The highest art is no art, the highest form is no form.”

Bruce Lee

Movement patterns are unarguably a key concept in Martial Arts (MA). This goes so far that MA styles are easily recognizable by their specific movement patterns. Be it Western boxing, Japanese Karate, Chinese Gung Fu or Indonesian Silat, each style has unique movements immediately betraying their rich heritage. Learning the appropriate movement patterns, also called forms, is central to teaching a beginner in any Martial Art. Be it in a more liberal way as in Western Martial Arts or in the stricter way of Eastern Martial Arts, where long patterns of movements are trained for many, many hours, the concept is the same: Learn on a low level the basic movements. Stitch them together on the next level into (pre-defined) patterns. And finally, apply these patterns in a free fight against the patterns of your opponent. As we can see, we are dealing here with a hierarchical activation pattern as described in the PARTM model.

However, if we take into account the final goal of a free fight, we can deduce more interesting information applying PARTM. In a real free fight, the goal of both fighters is to inflict damage to the opponent. It is important to note that to achieve this goal both fighters need to a) execute patterns to inflict damage and b) perceive the pattern of the opponent to avoid damage. Not surprisingly, free fight or sparring is another important training tool, where martial artists learn to apply their learned patterns while trying to avoid the opponent´ s patterns. Here, PARTM suggests that a very important tool for winning a fight could be breaking the pattern. Being aware what the expectations of the opponent might be given a started sequence of movements, the fighter actively chooses to break the pattern. This can be performed either by breaking it in the temporal dimension, i.e. performing the next movement in the pattern faster or slower than expected. It can also be done in the movement dimension, where an unexpected movement is chosen or omitted – as in a feint -, startling the opponent for a fraction of time. Both strategies will most likely be familiar to many martial artists.

This also implies that the fighter familiar with a larger variety of patterns will prevail over the fighter with less knowledge of patterns. Here, I don´ t necessarily mean the number of techniques, but rather the principle ways and angles of attacking and combining movements. The more experienced fighter has seen more patterns and tried more patterns themselves. This argues heavily in favor of sparring-training and cross-training, i.e. the training of several different Martial Arts, especially those with different primary foci such as ground fighting, throws or striking.

Lastly, when exploring MA from the pattern perspective, we can shed light on something that I like to call the “Novice-Master-Paradoxon”. Many martial artists have experienced that the two types of people hardest to fight against are complete beginners and the accomplished masters. The complete beginner does not know anything about the best ways to move to inflict damage, thus they will use completely unexpected movements, at inadequate speed. It is sometimes impossible to predict these patterns, making fighting a novice at times harder than an advanced beginner¹⁹. The masters, on the other hand, have practiced fighting so much that they can actively detach themselves from the formality of the learned patterns. Bruce Lee famously said: “The highest art is no art, the highest form is no form”. I believe that he was referring to a state, where a fighter can fully read their opponent’s pattern, while their own pattern is impossible for the opponent to decode. An example of this is the fight of Forrest Griffin against Anderson Silva²⁰. Forrest Griffin was a highly trained and accomplished Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter. However, his opponent on that day, Anderson Silva, is arguably one of the best fighters known in history and he was at his prime. During the fight seemingly Silva predicted every move of Griffin and almost all of his own attacks hit the mark utterly humiliating Griffin in the fight.

The neuroscientific PARTM model corroborates empirical principles from Martial Arts: The need for a formal syllabus of forms, the necessity for sparring training, the focus on breaking the pattern and the goal to detach from the pattern in the final step. Since movement and perception are heavily researched in neuroscience, potentially more theories from neuroscience can be applied to the benefit of Martial Arts in the future.