Science of Fear

Science of Fear

What are you afraid of? Snakes? Turbulence? Spiders? Thunder? Speaking in front of a crowd?

All of us get scared, and all of us have different thresholds for what makes us afraid. Some of us enjoy the thrill of horror movies, and some of us thought the fire scene in Bambi was too frightening.

Whatever it is that scares you, what we can agree on is that fear causes our bodies to react. Hearts pound. Palms sweat. Muscles freeze. Knees shake.

Well, if you are experiencing these symptoms, you have your amygdala to thank. The amygdala is the part of the brain that rests behind the eye and over from the ear. There are two of them, and they are tiny and almond shaped, but don't let the size fool you. Without the amygdala, humans would not have survived throughout history. The amygdala is a brain's alarm system.

Consider the amygdala as your own onboard 911 operator. It is waiting for bad news to come in. From the body's point of view, that bad news comes in the form of inputs like sight, sound, taste, touch, and pain, and this 911 operator then dispatches a signal for the body to respond by increasing the heart rate, blood pressure, or respiration. A surge of stress hormones will also be pumped into the bloodstream. And this chain reaction in the brain happens within fractions of a second.

We can learn quite a lot from animals about how we respond when we are frightened. When an animal is in fear, its body freezes, the heart rate increases, and stress hormones enter into the blood. In the animal kingdom, this is helpful because a potential predator cannot see potential prey if it isn't moving. So remaining still can be a lifesaver. And the increased heart rate and stress hormones prepare the body to flee if all else fails. The amygdala, along with other parts of the brain (the thalamus, hypothalamus, and hippocampus), are key to our fight-or-flight reaction.

Parts of the Brain Responsible for FEAR

• Amygdala: scans for threats and signals body to respond

• Brain Stem: triggers the freeze response

• Hippocampus: turns on the fight-or-flight response

• Hypothalamus: signals the adrenal glands to pump hormones

• Pre-Frontal Cortex: interprets the event and compares it to past experiences

• Thalamus: receives input from the senses and "decides" to send information to either the sensory cortex (conscious fear) or the amygdala (defense mechanism)

When you get scared, nervous, or stressed your body releases hormones that cause your breathing to become faster and heavier, your muscles to tense, and your heart rate to increase. These reactions are part of the body’s automatic fear response, which prepares us for fight or flight. By increasing heart rate, your body pumps more blood, which means that there will be increased flow of oxygen to the brain, heart and large muscles.

Your senses will also become more sensitive and ready to help you react quickly. Fear is a funny thing. Some people enjoy it, but most of us don't. What is certain is that fear is the brain's amygdala showing its ability to protect us from danger.

Today we're going to examine our physical responses to fear...

• Goosebumps

• Muscles tighten or you freeze or jump

• Heart Pounding (pulse accelerates)

• Fast Breathing

Poll

What fear response did you experience?

• Goosebumps

• Muscles Tighten (Jump or freeze)

• Heart pounding

• Fast breathing

• No Fear Response

Poll

What fear response did you experience?

• Goosebumps

• Muscles Tighten (Jump or freeze)

• Heart pounding

• Fast breathing

• No Fear Response

Poll

What fear response did you experience?

• Goosebumps

• Muscles Tighten (Jump or freeze)

• Heart pounding

• Fast breathing

• No Fear Response

Poll

What fear response did you experience?

• Goosebumps

• Muscles Tighten (Jump or freeze)

• Heart pounding

• Fast breathing

• No Fear Response

Poll

What fear response did you experience?

• Goosebumps

• Muscles Tighten (Jump or freeze)

• Heart pounding

• Fast breathing

• No Fear Response

Open Ended

What is the purpose of our body's fear response?

Poll

Did I get you at all today lol???

• Yes

• No