taxonomy – Serenity Through Sweat

Tools

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week I came across an interesting article on language and tool use that fits in well with my research, as well as the topics that we cover here.

The article appeared in the journal Science and the study by Thibault et al. examines the neural patterns that are activated by syntax and tool use.

The scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural activity during a series of experiments. One set of experiments tested participants during tool use, using manual actions as a control. The other experiment tested participants on a linguistic task with complex syntactic structures.

The tool experiment had participants using mechanical pliers to insert small pegs into different holes. The syntax experiment had participants read complex sentences and then answer questions. An example provided was “The scientist whom the poet admires writes an article”. They then had to judge statements such as “The poet admires the scientist” as being true or false.

The experiment showed that the same area of the brain, the basal ganglia, was activated, and activated in similar ways, by both the tool use as well as the language task.

The researchers then performed a similar experiment on a new group of participants where they participated in a linguistic task, then a motor task, and then a linguistic task again. The control group either watched an unrelated video or performed manual task with their hands in between linguistic tasks.

Adventures on the bourbon trail with my favorite adventure partner

The experimental group showed a significant improvement on the second linguistic task, performed after tool use, as compared to the control group.

The theory is that enhanced neural priming and neural plasticity increased linguistic ability in the second test since (as mentioned from the first part of the study) the same area of the brain is used in both tool use and language use.

This strikes me as not only interesting in the many different ways it can be (more on that here), but also as a wonderful segue into one of my favorite sayings and a lesson I learned from my father. Having the right tool for the job makes all the difference.

Sure dad you can go away if you bring back more mojeskas.

Anyone who has ever worked construction, engaged in any sort of DIY or home improvement project, or even just arts and crafts with the kids knows having the right tool can make all the difference. And, while it is possible to get the job done without the most suitable tool, it is often more cumbersome, clunky, and challenging than it needs to be.

In the case of our experiment, tools and language are interchangeable, (at least if you are measuring brain function by fMRI) so we end up with having the right word for the job makes all the difference. The job of course being an effective exchange of ideas and intention.

Early birthday celebration for El Duderino with Grandma

Another favorite saying on this blog (that I picked up from an AP Chemistry teacher) is that taxonomy is important. Words are important. Having the right word, and being able to use the right word is a critical part of being able to effectively express your ideas.

This blog has been a way for me to increase the size of my linguistic toolbox (along with many other benefits I get out of writing). Reading and research (especially research since academics are often harder to understand than lawyers) also help expand my toolbox.

One of my first blog posts was about receiving a toolbox as a gift from my father and not appreciating it until years later. I hope that I can gift both of my boys with both physical as well as linguistic toolboxes, so that they always have the right tool for the job be it communication or manual.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Briefings

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Today I want to talk about briefings, what they are, why they are useful, and some pitfalls I commonly find myself in with my own briefings.

As is often the case in life and in the blog, taxonomy is important to understanding. Briefing as a noun is a meeting for giving information or instructions, and as a verb, it is the act of informing or instructing.

Laugh sessions with Speedy

As mundane as those definitions sound, briefings affect the way we manage our families, our businesses, and our country. Good briefings can set us up for success just as much as bad briefings can leave us exposed to unmitigated risk.

I am constantly briefing. Pilots brief everything. Takeoff, departure, weather, maintenance, passengers, arrival, landing, expected threats, you get the idea. We do a lot of briefing. Those briefings (especially my own) have a tendency to get repetitive and monotonous, and like most things that are repetitive and monotonous, they tend to slip into a state of complacency.

As pilots, we know this, (and are constantly reminded of it by, oddly enough, by union, company and third party briefings) yet we all too often slip into a laissez faire attitude to our fellow aviators’ briefings. I recently had a captain brief me saying “we’re gonna do that stuff”. Does that sound like a professional giving information or instructions?

Briefings should of course be brief. As someone who likes to talk (and write), I know the tendency is to expound and leave no stone unturned. But, these aren’t thesis defenses, and no one wants to be lectured past the bullet points.

Shapes, colors, and numbers with El Duderino

Remembering that briefings are a form of instruction or a passing of information, it helps to know what you are talking about on more than just a surface level. Instruction requires a familiarity with the intricacies of the material in order to effectively brief.

As we said early taxonomy is important and so is diction. Understanding the material and keeping your message short, means that your word choices are critical. How many times have you listened to a politician who speaks a lot of words without saying anything?

These are relatively simple rules, but it is not hard to find examples (including in this blog) of briefings running afoul. In a time where information is so readily available we still struggle mightily with the effective transfer of it.

Transferring ideas means more than just slingshotting 280 characters into the void. It demands careful contemplation of your communiqué and curation of you channel of delivery. All alliteration aside, transferring ideas equals effective briefings. Like most things discussed in this blog, it is a difficult and valuable skill that can be practiced, and improved, and one we could all benefit from.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Cowards

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. As we move into mid June and into the fourth month of some form of reduced social contact due to COVID-19, I want to talk about fatigue.

In order to facilitate clear exchange of ideas and discussion (and because I had the importance drilled in to me in AP Chemistry class in high school) I’m a big believer in taxonomy. Fatigue (as it will apply to this post and future discussions on the blog) is a physiological state of reduced physical or mental performance.

First stroller run with my new running buddy

Fatigue can be brought on in a number of different ways. Since this in large part a fitness blog, fatigue in most of our discussions is brought on by physical exertion. Touching on parenting and aviation, fatigue can be brought on by disrupted sleep patterns and stress. Fatigue can also be brought on by both too much mental stimulation as in a tough day at the office, but also by too little mental stimulation or a routine day at the office just monitoring the instruments share known as boredom fatigue.

This blog is filled with examples of physical exertion, and while most physical exertion leaves me energized and mentally and emotionally recharged (SerenityThroughSweat). There are some debilitating days deliberately designed into the training plan, all alliteration aside.

First stroller run with Speedy (his name not my pace, I was fighting my legs the whole way)

As a pilot, I’ve had fatiguing days where lots of things went wrong and I was strained to keep everything together safely. I’ve also had days that were just as fatiguing, where it was smooth sailing but there instruments seemed to lull me to sleep.

One thing is certain, regardless of how fatigue develops and accumulates, it diminishes performance. “Fatigue makes cowards of us all”, sometimes attributed to General George Patton, and sometimes to Vince Lombardi, gets to the heart of the matter.

A snapshot of the last 14 days of mobility work on the overhead position

Again, taxonomy is important. Most of the time, coward is a derogatory term used for someone who lacks courage. In the context of this post, it refers more to someone who lacks the will or ability, to do or endure unpleasant things. While that is still somewhat on the derogatory spectrum, I think it is less offensive in that form and more of a temporary state of reality that we all find ourselves in from time to time.

Regardless of your profession or your predilection for physical exertion, we are all experiencing various stages of COVID-19 fatigue. Which also means, many of us are already, or are on our way to becoming, cowards. Before you get defensive, remember this means lacking the will to do or endure unpleasant things.

Getting in some projectile meditation, by far my best 6 consecutive shots

I know I am personally tired of social distancing, tired of being stuck inside, tired of not being able to do things with friends and family that I otherwise would. I’m saddened by the loss of life, the economic hardship, and the stress that Covid-19 brings. Since Florida has re opened, it has seen new records three days in a row for new Covid-19 cases. It seems as though as a state, and in larger part as a society, we have lost the will to endure the unpleasantness required to combat this pandemic.

The good news is, cowardice does not have to be a permanent character trait, but rather can be limited to a temporary state. Regardless of what unpleasantness we may find ourselves unwilling, or unable to endure, there will always be sources from which we can draw strength and bravery, to combat our own fatigue and cowardice. I hope that you have many such sources in your life, and I’m honored if this is one of them.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.