Change, Memory and Improvising

The Asia Pacific Neuroleadership Summit in Sydney last week had some amazing new information to add to my world.
Professor Bob Wood, a cognitive psychologist, likened working memory to a gate, and long-term memory to a paddock. Working memory is limited (the famous 7 plus or minus 2 chunks), and impeded by stress, negative self-talk ("I'm crap at this") and other such stressors.
The idea is that if the gate is open, we can access longer term memory and make some change. If the gate is closed, we don't learn new things, so we can't adapt to change. Opening the gate, according to Bob is about a trusty supportive culture, or about a set of robust habits.
So putting this in the improvising context, we teach people habits like how to stop their self-talk, be in the moment. We teach people how to create a sense of support within a team.
So, one more reason we should all be improvisers!

Photo, by the way is Richard and I hosting a Pirate themed show last year.