This was started over on the "Should I look in my opponents eyes thread" but its gone a bit off topic so I've started a new thread.
The discussion is about what sorts of things happen to you during acute stress response, specifically, how does it affect your mind, and how does it affect your vision.
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George, I've come across that too, here's what I read from some med school;
"Effects on Long- and Short Term Memory. During the stressful event, catecholamines also suppress activity in areas at the front of the brain concerned with short-term memory, concentration, inhibition, and rational thought. This sequence of mental events allows a person to react quickly to the bear, either to fight or to flee from it. (It also hinders the ability to handle complex social or intellectual tasks and behaviors during that time.)
On the other hand, neurotransmitters at the same time signal the hippocampus (a nearby area in the brain) to store the emotionally loaded experience in long-term memory. In primitive times, this brain action would have been essential for survival, since long-lasting memories of dangerous stimuli (e.g., a large bear) would be critical for avoiding such threats in the future." from here:
http://www.umm.edu/patiented/article...s_000031_2.htm
To me, there seem to be conflicting "facts" out there. Always the danger of the internet. Time to figure out precisely what's true-er.
One possible resolution is that there is more of a gradient, from worry to acute shock where these symptoms manifest.
Perhaps it is simply a game of dice which symptoms you will feel and how much they will manifest.
All I have to go on is a bit misleading to me. I have my own expirences (I remember tunnel vision in fights, esp. after getting hit - I remember acute details of fights (precisely what I was thinking, what I dreamed, and what I thought when I woke up...) - but I also think I've blanked on a number of stressfull situations. Granted, its difficult to recall what I've forgotten...
Logically If blood goes to the core it will surely cause tunnel vision by exhausting the eyes of oxygen. But, it's also clear that pupils dilate from fear (which should open the field of vision, at least of the individual eyes).
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When I heard this espoused as a tool by a jkd instructor, he meant this sort of emotionally enhanced memory as being a boon during some training.
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What I think would be nice is to have someone with good up to date expirmental knoweldge of this stuff. This is a good discussion!