The Science of Tilt (x-post)

[flipdeadshot22]

There was this guy in the psychology forum, whom I can tell based upon the wording of his post alone, probably had nothing more than a pop-sci level understanding of neroscience. I was interested in how everyone instantly took to his post as if it were an actual scientifically derived explanation behind the neurophysiological pathways of tilt. Why is it that so many people are quick to imbibe the opinions made by laymen of topics that are obviously way above the head of the layman expositor and the listener? (I ask this since I see this all the time in a multitude of scientific fields.) Here the post (input from those more informed than I on this topic would be helpful):

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a very rough explanation of the neuroscience of tilt goes something like this:
You get a bad beat. Your mind takes this as a threat (to your livlihood aka bankroll). First flow of adrenaline comes in. This flow is small, but prepares your mind and body for an encounter.
You hit another badbeat. (Usually your tilt after 2) Now the major flow of adrenaline and other chemicals comes.
Now here comes the intricate info, so pay attention.
You're brain is made up of many parts, but the two that are related to poker are the amygdala and the lymbic system.

The amygdala controls your basic emotions, sex,food,and when to fight or flight. Basically think of a dog's brain.

The lymbic system is what separates us from the dog. Its an extra layer of tissue that we evolved on top of the amygdala. It controls a lot of what we think of as "concious thought". It is attributed to calculations, logic, and rationality.

The amygdala is much more neccessary for us to live than the limbic system. It controls all of the basic needs for life, and its also the core part of the brain, the limbic system is an extension of it.

Now back to poker. When we hit that second bad beat, and the large flow of chemicals starts, the amygdala takes over. We've been threatened and if we were cavemen, we need to decide on fight or flight. The amygdala is much faster than the limbic system to make decisions, but the decisions are very crude and far from very accurate.

As the limbic system is no longer guiding our actions, we lose a lot of our control over solid logical decision making.

What do you do to fix this? Take a break, get some excersize, and do not ruminate on the bad beat, you will just make the flow of chemicals even stronger and you will lose even more control.

I hope everyone enjoyed this, I might make a small book with this stuff, I really enjoy it.

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http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...=0#Post10341093

[HP]

I'm one of those idiots who was quick to imbibe the opinion made by the laymen

Well first off, I wouldn't know who or who isn't a laymen in this field. Also I've heard a few times before some of the stuff he mentions, for example

[ QUOTE ]
The lymbic system is what separates us from the dog. Its an extra layer of tissue that we evolved on top of the amygdala. It controls a lot of what we think of as "concious thought". It is attributed to calculations, logic, and rationality.

The amygdala is much more neccessary for us to live than the limbic system. It controls all of the basic needs for life, and its also the core part of the brain, the limbic system is an extension of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard this general idea on TV (discovery channel maybe?). I've heard this general idea from a credible biophysics professor. So I'd rate the chances it's correct as high

obv this doesn't prove what the rest of what he says is correct, but I reckon it ups the chances (think Bayesian statistics)

basically with random stuff like this, I just store it away in my brain. If I keep hearing the same thing from many sources (weighted by my judgment of their credibility) I think it's more and more likely to be the opinion of most experts

I mean I guess the alternative is to go to my old University (most credible place nearest to me), ask the experts in whatever field what they think, ask them which journals are the most credible, and read lots of papers from those journals. But uh, no thanks

[flipdeadshot22]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm one of those idiots who was quick to imbibe the opinion made by the laymen

Well first off, I wouldn't know who or who isn't a laymen in this field. Also I've heard a few times before some of the stuff he mentions, for example

[ QUOTE ]
The lymbic system is what separates us from the dog. Its an extra layer of tissue that we evolved on top of the amygdala. It controls a lot of what we think of as "concious thought". It is attributed to calculations, logic, and rationality.

The amygdala is much more neccessary for us to live than the limbic system. It controls all of the basic needs for life, and its also the core part of the brain, the limbic system is an extension of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard this general idea on TV (discovery channel maybe?). I've heard this general idea from a credible biophysics professor. So I'd rate the chances it's correct as high

obv this doesn't prove what the rest of what he says is correct, but I reckon it ups the chances (think Bayesian statistics)

basically with random stuff like this, I just store it away in my brain. If I keep hearing the same thing from many sources (weighted by my judgment of their credibility) I think it's more and more likely to be the opinion of most experts

I mean I guess the alternative is to go to my old University (most credible place nearest to me), ask the experts in whatever field what they think, ask them which journals are the most credible, and read lots of papers from those journals. But uh, no thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to clarify, I never once called anyone who took to his opinion an "idiot" (reread my post.) And he DID in fact have many points in his post that were correct (basically his definitions of the different parts of the human brain and how they function.) However, trying to fit all of these brain functions in a simple manner to explaining an extremely complex psychological and physical phenomon as tilt seemed a bit silly and contrived to me, disagree if you like.

[HP]

[ QUOTE ]
disagree if you like.

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your opinion has since altered my opinion on the subject