The prophecy of "How we decide" dopamine in the foreign language translation the first verse

This is the beginning of the second chapter ...

Introduction to the Book

Early February 24, 1991. The first and second Marines went northward into the desert of Saudi Arabia, where they came to Kuwait. The troops were the first troops to enter Kuwait in the 8 months since Iraq's invasion. Desert Storm operations depend on them for success. The Marines have to liberate Kuwait within 100 hours. If Iraq's forces cannot be quickly resolved, the forces will retreat into the cities of Kuwait and the war will evolve into urban street fighting. In that case, the war will take months to end.

The Marines were very strongly resisted. Iraqis have deployed a strong military presence in Kuwait, a dense deployment of landmines in desert areas and a strong air force. The central command estimated that when attacking Kuwait, each Marine Corps personnel would have to hit 5% to 10% of the battle damage.

To support this important operation, an Allied fleet was assigned 20 miles away from the port of Kuwait. This is a risky strategy, and although it can provide firepower support for ground troops, the fleet is also exposed to the range of Iraqi missiles.

The ground war was surprisingly smooth in the first 24 hours. After resolving the problems caused by landmines and barbed wire, the Marines tried to enter the heartland of Kuwait. Unlike the Soviet-style T-72 used by Iraqis, MI tanks in the United States are equipped with GPS units and thermal-visual devices. When a large number of Marines arrived in the outskirts of the city of Kuwait, they immediately turned eastward and began the task of defending the coastline. Just before the dawn of 25th, Ten helicopters, an amphibious landing craft, mounted a feint in conjunction with a previous fleet of ships to support the operation and cover the Marines ' operations.

That morning, Lieutenant Michael Riley was observing a radar surveillance screen on a British Royal Naval destroyer 15 miles from the port of Kuwait, and Riley was observing the airspace near the Allied fleet. After the air war began, the members of the radar Working Group assumed heavy workload. They have been working 6 hours in a row, followed by a 6-hour rest and diet, and then a 6-hour high-stress job. When the Marines ' operations began, radar team members showed signs of fatigue as well. The eyes are bloodshot, and caffeine is needed for sustained stimulation to ensure work.

Riley has been working from midnight to 5:1 A.M., and as the fleet launches artillery fire, he found a radar spike identified on the coast of Kuwait. Judging from the trajectory of this thing, it is moving towards the fleet. Although a similar signal has been observed all night long, this time, Riley has a non-general feeling. He couldn't explain why, but this time, the green dots on the screen filled him with fear. After 40 seconds of observation, he found that the thing was moving toward USS Missouri, 550 miles per hour. If Riley decides to shoot down the object, now is his only chance. If this object is a missile launched by Iraq, it will be too late to act.

But Riley faces a problem, and such radar signals are often also representative of the American A-6 fighter. The A-6 fighter was deployed by the U.S. Navy to launch a laser-guided missile to match the Marines ' ground operations, and in the past few weeks Riley often saw a radar-like signal triggered by inbound after A-6 completed the operation.

A-6 fighter pilots often stop emitting electronic signals when inbound, because while such signals can make allies ' radars recognizable, they also provide targets for Iraqi air defense missiles.

Radar has a way to recognize foe: A-6 generally flies at a height of 3000 feet, while Iraq's missiles are generally 1000 feet high. However, the radar that Riley is observing does not support a high level of detection. At this point, the radar that can detect altitude is just not working. 1 minutes has passed, and what this object is is still a mystery.

There is no extra time to think about it. Riley issued an order to launch interceptor missiles, two sea spear missiles fired immediately, Riley in front of the screen tense observation, nervous waiting for the results.

The sound of the explosion echoed across the ocean, and the object that had flown to the USS Missouri sank to the ocean. Not long after, Riley's officer came in and questioned who was responsible for the action just now. "It's me." "Do you know whether you shot down an Iraqi missile or an American fighter?" "Sir, I don't know." ”

The next 4 hours are too long for Riley. If A-6 is shot down, he destroys the lives of 2 innocent pilots. His military career is bound to end, and there is a possibility of military court. He turned to the recording of the equipment and looked for clues as to whether the object was an Iraqi missile. But even if he now has enough time to analyze what the object is, Riley still does not discriminate, he becomes very melancholy. The search team was dispatched to check what was being destroyed, and all Allied fighters were asked about the situation.

Riley in the bed trying to get into sleep, got the notice of the officer: The destroyed object is a missile, Riley saved a battleship with one man's power.

After the war, the British Navy carefully analyzed the decision-making process of the Riley decision. They concluded that it was impossible to discern whether this was a A-6 or an enemy missile, based on radar signals alone. Riley's actions were fruitful, but his actions were an entirely risky act.

It was not until 1993 that the matter was interpreted as such. A Marine Corps cognitive psychologist was interested in that year and launched an investigation. Klein has a very long experience in making decisions in high-tension state. He knows that our intuition is very insightful at some point, even though the source of this insight is unknown.

Klein looked closely at the radar footage at the time, playing the video continuously, trying to find the difference between the missile's flight and the homing of the fighter plane on the radar signal.

In the end, Klein found the difference, unlike A-6, the missile due to low flight altitude, the signal will be a variety of terrestrial electronic signal interference, on the radar will appear more than the A-6 fighter 8 seconds later. This is different from the patterns that Riley usually get used to. That's why this radar signal made Riley so tense.

It's not A-6, I should shoot him down.

There are still many questions remaining: How does Riley's emotional system recognize the two same radar signals? What the hell is going on in his brain? The key to the answer to the question: dopamine, which is used between brain cells to communicate.

Dopamine was discovered in 1954 by two neuroscientists at McGill University, James Olds and Peter Milner, who had planned to implant electrodes deep in the brains of rats to experiment. The location they were implanted in now looks very good. (Brain science was not well developed at the time) they inserted needle-like objects into the area on the right side of the nucleus accumbens, which was used by the brain to produce pleasure. It is this part of the brain that makes us so happy when we eat chocolate, listen to good music and watch the game.

Olds and Milner soon discovered that the consequences of excessive pleasure were disastrous. They pass a very small amount of current on the electrodes, causing the nucleus accumbens to continue to excite. The mice lost interest in everything and huddled in the corner of their cave. A few days later, they all died of thirst (with water instead of drinking).

After decades of research, scientists have come to the conclusion that these mice perished from excessive dopamine. The stimulation of the nucleus accumbens made him secrete a large amount of neurotransmitters. Makes the mice enter a state of ecstasy. The effects of this state and addictive drugs are no different, and the brain is blinded by ecstasy.

Dopamine can bring more than happiness. Science adds that this neurotransmitter controls the transmission of all emotions, from love at first sight to visceral resentment. Dopamine is a circulating currency in the consciousness system.

Much of our understanding of dopamine comes from the pioneering experiments of Wolfram Schultz, a neuroscientist at Cambridge University. It will use dopamine to communicate with the nervous system and the retina of the photoreceptor analogy. Just as the vision begins with the light shining into the retina, the process of decision-making starts with dopamine fluctuations.

Dating back to the 1970, when Schultz was a student, he was very interested in neurotransmitters due to his commitment to the treatment of Parkinson's syndrome. He extracts brain cells from the monkey's brain, trying to find the cells that control the body's movement, but without any gain. He was very depressed during that time ... But after years of research, he found something wrong, and dopamine neurons emit a lot of things before the monkeys respond.

After hundreds of trials, Schultz believes he stumbled upon the workings of the brain reward mechanism. After publishing several influential papers in the middle of the 80, he began a further study of the mechanism.

Schultz's experiment was this: he first played a few seconds with the tweeter, then poured apple juice into the monkey's mouth. At the same time, Schultz detects changes in the brains of monkeys. At first, dopamine neurons secrete dopamine only when the body receives apple juice, and then the cells can secrete dopamine when they hear the horn sound. That is, these neurons are predictive and can predict the upcoming rewards. After a few days, Schultz played the horn, but without pouring apple juice, the monkeys immediately became frustrated, because dopamine was secreted, but not rewarded accordingly. Schultz calls it "predictive error."

The interesting part of the dopamine system is that they can predict in advance that the system is a pattern that is continuously formed by experience.

The prophecy of "How we decide" dopamine in the foreign language translation the first verse