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Ballads and Performance: The Multimodal Stage in Early Modern England

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Ways to specify the target All vertebrate animals have a complex

neural system that automatically and unconsciously monitors the environment for immediate danger or safety, and coordinates adaptive responses throughout the body.
A Brief Primer on the Neuroscience of Threat and Safety Responses

To review the neuroscience background as briefly and clearly as possible for the non-technical reader, I shall present a simplified version and avoid the use of jargon and acronyms. If the reader wishes to resolve the resulting imprecision, hovering over a highlighted word or phrase will show the technical meaning I intend, and clicking will take you to the glossary for a definition or more information. Of course the system is much more complicated than this.²

All vertebrate animals have a complex

neural system that automatically and unconsciously monitors the environment for immediate danger or safety, and coordinates adaptive responses throughout the body. The Fight-or-Flight Response is activated by perceived danger, and regulates almost every organ of the body to prepare for vigorous physical effort to survive an immediate threa.³ In order to achieve peak performance in moments of crisis, other non-urgent functions are temporarily shut down, such as feeding, digestion, immune response, and reproduction. These somatic effects underlie visceral sensations associated with the emotion of fear, such as a racing or pounding heart, sweaty palms, shallow and rapid breathing, dry mouth, or a sinking feeling in the stomach. Thet

"Fight-or-Flight Response" is energetically costly, and not sustainable.

The exact opposite occurs during the opposing

“Rest-and-Digest Response,” which is most active when conditions of safety are detected. This neural pathway slows the breath and heart rate, and promotes regenerative and self-sustaining functions throughout the body. In a healthy person, these opposing systems dynamically engage and disengage in response to the demands of each situation. By way of illustration and summary, Figure 1 presents a sketch of what might be happening in these pathways in different situations.

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Figure 1. A conceptual illustration of neural responses to danger and safety. Figure 1. A. After a mild threat, the Fight-or-Flight Response (red curve) is activated while the Rest-and-Digest Response (blue curve) is suppressed. This facilitates successful navigation of the threat (fight or flight behaviors) but inhibits nutritive and other non-urgent functions. After the threat is resolved, signals of safety allow the Rest-and-Digest system to rebound, down-regulating defensive Fight-or-Flight responses and allowing restorative, self-maintenance functions to resume. B. If threatening stimuli are too great or too frequent, safety signals absent or not detected, then recovery from threat may become incomplete. Defensive responses remain chronically elevated while restorative functions remain suppressed. C. Stimuli that enhance or mimic safety signals might restore normal baseline function and healthy responsiveness of the system to future threat stimuli. Panels A and B are adapted from Payne, Levine, and Crane-Godreau 2015.
"Ballads on the Brain: A Neurobiological Hypothesis"
"Ballads on the Brain: A Neurobiological Hypothesis"
"Ballads on the Brain: A Neurobiological Hypothesis"
"Ballads on the Brain: A Neurobiological Hypothesis"
Fight-or-Flight Response