• Certain Victory
• Quote:
• Neuroscience:
• Study:
• Developed Quality
• Disciplined Results
• Glorious Triumphs
• 一期一会 ichi-go ichi-e
• Curb Temper
• Dessolated Lover
• Superstitious Truth
• Respectful Truth

Certain Victory

Neuroscience of Repetition

Quote:

Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated. Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.

Mistakes comes from learning more and learning more comes from more repetitions and training. The more you train, the less mistakes you make when it counts. Everything is a numbers game.

(Mention that there is another study done where quality mattered more than volume, this video is focused on the neuroscience behind repetition)

Neuroscience:

Myelination

Study:

“When comparing between combat sports, we observed that MMA athletes generally completed more combat sessions than other sports both with and without a com- petition coming up, which may be a result of the wider range of skills (both striking and grappling) that they must practice.

It was also found that elite athletes had more combat sessions per week than their lower-level contemporaries (amateur and regional/state), which would plausibly be the result of an increased commit- ment to training.

Though interestingly, there was no dif- ference between competitive levels and the frequency of non-combat sessions, which may suggest that the devel- opment of combat sports-specific skills is more import- ant for competitive success than general strength and conditioning.”

Training habits and fight records of 298 combat athletes (MMA, boxing, wrestling, judo, etc.), about 86% were male.

“Elite athletes began training earlier than amateurs (13.75 ± 7.75 years and 16.2 ± 7.45 years, p<0.01, respectively).

It appears to be the case that ability to finish matches early (e.g. knock-out, pin, submission, etc.) is a distinguisher between the higher and lower level of competitions.

Elite athletes completed more combat sessions per week than their lower-level contemporaries (4.64 ± 2.49 and 3.9 ± 1.44, p=0.01, respectively).

Patterns of winning or losing were consistent across sports, except for amateur athletes who were more likely to report all their victories by points and none of their victories by submission or pin.

Additionally, elite athletes are less likely to report none of their victories coming by knockout.”

Possible that knowing all possible outcomes of a match, the elite athletes are able to win more, whereas amateurs are expecting chronological feedback before getting to a new position. One is of foresight, the other of input/output to opportunity.

Developed Quality

Neuroscience of Quality over Quantity

The commoner type of success in every walk of life and in every species of effort is that which comes to the man who differs from his fellows not by the kind of quality which he possesses but by the degree of development which he has given that quality. 

234 UFC fights to see what makes winners different from losers,

• Quality beats quantity: Accurate strikes matter more than throwing lots of strikes
• Winners had better:
• Takedown accuracy (landing takedowns when attempted)
• Strike accuracy (landing clean shots)
• Ground control (effective strikes on the ground)

Disciplined Results

Neuroscience of Consistency

Discipline is the art of just doing it.

645 rounds of MMA, comparing winners vs. losers round-by-round,

• Winners stay consistent all 3 rounds
• Throughout all three rounds, winners out-struck losers by 25-42%. Winners ramped up their offense in Round 2 and sustained it, while losers couldn't increase their output and actually declined slightly by Round 3.
• “The fact that approximately 85% of all fights finished in the third round is further evidence that MMA athletes must develop high physical fitness to grapple and strike intensely through all 3 rounds”
• Losers fade after Round 1—fewer strikes, fewer takedowns
• Winners more frequently achieved and maintained dominant positions on the ground (mount, back, side control)
• Work-to-rest ratio is 1:4 (1 minute hard work, 4 minutes lower intensity)
• Hard work: active fighting
• Lower intensity: passive fighting
• “The most frequent submission technique used was the rear naked choke (2.5% of the wins) followed by guillotine choke (1.5% of wins), triangle choke (1.0% of wins), arm triangle (0.5% of wins), and cross-body arm lock (0.5% of wins)”

Glorious Triumphs

Neuroscience of Action (aMCC)

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Touroutoglou, A., Andreano, J., Dickerson, B. C., & Barrett, L. F. (2020). The tenacious brain: How the anterior mid-cingulate contributes to achieving goals. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 123, 12–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2019.09.011

一期一会 ichi-go ichi-e

Neuroscience of Gratitude and Appreciation

One time, one meeting

Curb Temper

Neuroscience of Exposure

You must do it for yourself. If you indulge yourself in the practice of any foible or vice in youth, it will gain strength with your years and become your conquerer.

Neuroscience backs this up:

Specifically focus on this part of the brain: the medial temporal lobe:

When researchers tested two patients with large medial temporal lobe lesions (so the part of your brain that helps you form new long-term conscious memories is gone) who had profound amnesia and no capacity for declarative memory, both patients were trained on a standard eight-pair object discrimination task over many weeks.

The Setup:

• Here are 16 random, unrecognizable junk objects (8 pairs) mounted on cardboard.
• On the very first day (before training began): You pick one object from each pair. Whichever one you didn't pick becomes the designated "correct" object for that pair throughout all future sessions.

The Training:

• During training sessions: If you chose the correct object → you pick it up, turn it over, and see the word "CORRECT" written underneath
• If you chose the incorrect object → there's nothing underneath (blank)
• There is immediate feedback within each session, but no recollection a week later
• This was repeated for 2 sessions per week on nonconsecutive days for 14 weeks (GP - 28 sessions) and 18 weeks (EP - 36 sessions) respectively
• Each session consisted of all 8 pairs presented five times = 40 individual choices/trials per session
• They reached 95% accuracy after approximately 1,040 trials (GP) and 1,200 trials (EP), continuing training for a few more sessions after that

The Results:

• Despite their complete inability to describe the task, instructions, or objects at the start of each session, both patients gradually acquired the discrimination task through trial-and-error learning
• The patients' accuracy improved gradually from around 45-55% correct (near chance) in early sessions to 85-92% correct by their final sessions—a slow, linear improvement over hundreds of trials
• This learning rate mirrors exactly how monkeys with similar brain damage learn this task (mean of 1,100 trials for four monkeys with large medial temporal lobe lesions)

And that’s why (loop cut to the beginning of the video with the quote)

Dessolated Lover

Neuroscience of External Perception

Grief to reflect on the vanity of human wishes and expectations

Specifically the self-reflection and interpretation of other people's intentions.

Temporo-Parietal Junction & The Theory of Mind

Temporo-parietal junction is involved specifically in reasoning about the contents of another person's mind, showing higher BOLD response when subjects read stories about a character's mental states compared with stories that described people in physical detail.

Blood-Oxygen-Level Dependent: When a brain region becomes more active, it needs more oxygen. Blood rushes to that area carrying fresh oxygen. The fMRI scanner detects the difference between oxygenated and deoxygenated blood because they have different magnetic properties.

When the RTPJ - right temporoparietal junction (involved in understanding intentions) was disrupted, people judged actions more on their outcomes than the person's intent - suggesting our moral judgments are flexible and can compensate when certain information isn't available.

Superstitious Truth

Neuroscience of Introspection

I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence. 

They used EEG (electroencephalography), which measures electrical activity across the scalp.

Trait endorsements: (participants judged a personality trait as self-descriptive (describing them) or non-self-descriptive (not describing them).

In terms of trait endorsement, participants overall endorsed more positive than negative traits as self-descriptive but judged more negative than positive traits as non-self-descriptive.

In regard to reaction times, in both experiments, participants showed faster endorsement of positive than negative traits as self-descriptive and showed faster rejection of negative than positive traits as self-descriptive.

• People endorsed more positive than negative traits overall
• People were faster to endorse positive traits than negative traits
• This shows general self-positivity bias - people see themselves as mostly good

In summary, participants endorsed a higher number of negative traits, and a lower number of positive traits, as part of the authentic than presented self. Also, participants were speedier in endorsing negative traits, but slower in endorsing (or speedier in denouncing) positive traits, for their authentic than presented self.

• More negative traits endorsed for authentic self (vs. presented self)
• Fewer positive traits endorsed for authentic self (vs. presented self)
• Faster to endorse negative traits for authentic self (vs. presented self)
• Slower to endorse positive traits for authentic self (vs. presented self)

Respectful Truth

The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others.