A05. Freezing

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If you get really nervous, you put in unnecessary force and can't perform to your full potential in a match, or you get scared and can't step forward... When we are attacked by strong fear, we freeze (freeze response), becoming paralyzed, losing our balance, losing our sense of balance, going blank and not being able to think, and so on, and our movements become impaired. This is when blood vessels suddenly constrict, muscles contract and become rigid, making it impossible to move, and blood flow to the brain is reduced, making it impossible to think. When the muscles in the lower back become rigid, we go into a state where our legs go limp. This freezing can be said to be an anxiety/fear reaction that goes beyond fight or flight. In a state close to freezing, parts of the body become rigid, resulting in an awkward performance . However, freezing is also thought to be originally for self-protection. Muscle stiffening is thought to be a way to avoid pain from an external attack on the body. It can also be thought that in order to avoid being found by animals that may attack us, we instantly lose our balance and stop moving, lie down, hide our presence, or pretend to be dead ( death feigning behavior ). "Don't move, lie down."

Freezing can occur through either a short circuit or a consciousness circuit. There was a scene in a TV show like a prank in a high school classroom where students were sitting in their chairs and when an idol appeared, the students were surprised and stood up once, but then their legs gave out immediately, and this was repeated. The idol's appearance should make the students happy, but before they felt any positive emotion such as happiness, a strong sense of surprise appeared first, and it is thought that this was a reaction similar to that when they encountered strong anxiety or fear. This is freezing through a short circuit, and it can be said that the reaction is to protect oneself before deciding whether the person is an enemy or a friend. On the other hand, there was a TV show a long time ago where a comedian was asked to jump off a diving board that was several meters above the water surface in a pool. At that time, the comedian was unable to jump off for quite a long time, let alone stand up by crawling on the high diving board. This is the consciousness circuit.