Frequency Coding
How does your brain tell the difference between a sound and a very loud sound?
The difference can be life or death. At the very least, a painful earache.
So it is critical that your brain can tell.
To understand how, we need to understand a concept called frequency coding.
Frequency coding is a neural coding strategy used by neurons to represent information based on the frequency of their action potentials, or “spikes.”
The intensity of a stimulus is encoded by the rate at which a neuron fires.
When sound waves hit your ears, your ears receive the sound waves and transmit the signals to your brain. The brain converts it into electrical signals, causing a spike in the voltage.
A stronger stimulus like a brighter light or louder sound causes a neuron to fire more frequently, while a weaker stimulus leads to fewer spikes.
This method allows the brain to interpret varying degrees of inputs. It is crucial in the manner in which information is processed in the nervous system.
The same logic applies to all stimuli, which is where it gets interesting.
So imagine you want to improve your threshold for pain. The more you stimulate your body with pain, the higher the frequency of coding.
Over time, though, your body will build something known as habituation. It will temper the frequency because of repetition.
You already know this if you practice any form of martial arts or, frankly, even exercise. You can apply the same logic to a wide variety of needs.
Increase your threshold for both emotional and physical triggers.
A few notes of caution. As you age, your inhibitory controls weaken. Therefore, the same trigger will cause higher coding than it did when you were a child. It is for this reason, loud sounds irritate older people.
Over stimulation can also result in desensitization. Essentially, your brain stopping to care about the stimulus anymore.
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