I'm sure you've read that your brain is like a computer. However, in one sense, your brain is very similar to an old-fashioned tape recorder. And, this biological tape recorder is driving much of your behavior!
Tape recorders create highly predictable output. In general, you record sounds on a tape...rewind the tape to the beginning of your recording...and then press the "Play" button. When you do this, if your tape recorder is working properly, you will hear the sounds you originally recorded. Some tapes have more than one recording track. This allows you to record separate things (for example a voice and an instrument) on different tracks of the same tape. In this case, when you rewind and press the playback button, the sounds are merged and played back together.
Certain structures in our brain function much like a two-track tape recorder. When things happen to us in the ordinary course of our lives, these brain structures constantly make two-track recordings, rewind them, and store them in our memories for potential playback at a later date. However, unlike a simple tape recorder, our brains can record our internal feelings, sounds, sights, smells, emotions and many other forms of sensory input. This playback process, in turn, has the potential to significantly influence our future behavior. If we are aware of and understand our tapes (and the tapes of those we must interact with on a frequent basis), we can get better at understanding and predicting behavior.
There are two main components of the events that occur in our lives:
- Perceived facts surrounding the event.
- Emotions related to the event.
As we experience things:
- Certain structures of the brain record the facts related to our experiences on one track of our biological "memory tapes".
- Other structures emotionally tag the events on another track using four general categories of emotions: joy, sadness, fear and anger.
The facts and the emotions are then merged, encoded into our memory as tapes, rewound and stored for possible future use. For example, suppose you were attacked by a dog as a child. The facts related to the event (type, size, color, sound, smell of the dog, the place the event occurred, etc.) were merged with the emotional tagging (probably fear) and encoded into your memory as a behavioral tape.
We all have forms of programmed behavior. In other words, when things happen to us, or we think certain thoughts, our response is preprogrammed. The behavioral tapes we have been exploring have much to do with creating these preprogrammed responses. In the example above, what do you suppose will happen to the child who was attacked if he encounters similar dogs in the future? Any element of the past event...the appearance of the dog, being in the same place, hearing similar sounds, experiencing similar smells, can serve as a playback button and trigger the "being attacked by a dog" behavioral tape and the corresponding bodily responses. The facts surrounding the past event and the fear associated with the event will likely come flooding back into consciousness.
How can you use this information? Well...if you sense a pattern of sadness, anger or fear, it might be worth doing a little detective work to see if you can track down the tape that is driving your emotions and behavior. Among therapists, there are three schools of thought on this topic. Some think you must track down the original events that created the tapes driving such behavior if you want to eliminate the emotions and behavior; some think there is little or no value in exploring tapes; and some think you should first attempt to uncover the cause of any tapes that may be generating unwanted behavior and emotions...but if you can't do so...recognize that a preprogrammed tape is driving your behavior, use other methods to modify your behavior and move on. The third group of therapists makes the most sense to me. By the way, I fully acknowledge that at times all emotions are appropriate and useful...including sadness, fear and anger.
Well, this blog is getting too long. Think about any tapes that might be influencing your behavior and how understanding these tapes might be useful to you. In the future, I'll discuss some of the more common tapes such as those related to money, marriage, parenting, selling, perfectionism and other common life issues. Eventually, I'll share some ideas on how to eliminate (or actually rewrite) tapes that are no longer serving you in life.
Chris Crouch, president of DME Training and Consulting, has spent years researching and studying both the mental and physical aspects of being productive.
