THe Science of Fear
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Check your heart rate before and after the video. What happened?
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Science of Ghosts - Science News for Students
The Body's Response to Fear - by Carolina Biological Supply
Picture this scenario.
On a dark Halloween night, a kid named Kyle, dressed as a mummy, walks through a neighborhood trick-or-treating. He gets a text from his friend Jamie. “A neighborhood across town is giving away full-size candy bars!” Kyle is reluctant to go because of the long trek to the other part of town, until he realizes he can cut through the old graveyard.
As Kyle walks through the gates of the graveyard with his sack of candy in tow, all he hears are gusts of a soft wind. It’s difficult to see due to the darkness and low-lying fog. He can make out the overlying trees and the outline of tombstones. With caution, he shuffles across the old graveyard. Suddenly, a dark figure appears from behind a gravestone. Spooked, Kyle freezes in fear. He drops his bag of treats. His body tenses up, legs and hands shaking. His heart is racing, and his pupils dilate as he sweats. His body is threatened and preparing itself for an attack!
What’s happening to Kyle? There are biological explanations for what happens to and within our bodies when we’re frightened. Fear triggers a primitive part of our brain that controls many involuntary functions.
Fear and our bodies
In the 1920s, a scientist by the name of Walter Cannon described the fight-or-flight response in his published works. It is an animal’s natural response when its survival is threatened. Our bodies go through the same physical and chemical processes in order to decide how we are going to deal with stressors. The following is a synopsis of the events that occur in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which functions in controlling involuntary actions.
Physiological effects of fear
The physical effects of these hormones include: increased heart rate (moves nutrient rich blood to vital organs and muscles), sweating (caused by the anticipation of the heat production of the oncoming physical activity), dilated pupils (allows far away vision, so we can assess threats from a distance), increased blood pressure (provides blood flow to vital organs essential to survival), increased lung activity (allows for maximal airflow), shaking, loss of hearing, and dry mouth.
Now you have a better understanding of the cascade of reactions occurring in Kyle’s body. He can run away, or he can confront the shadowy figure. Either way, his body is primed for activity.
As Kyle gets ready to brave the danger, the figure moves into view. It’s his friend Jamie, dressed as a vampire! She decided to meet him halfway, hide in the graveyard, and spook him. What a rotten but appropriate trick to play on her friend. Jamie drops to her knees laughing as Kyle picks up his sack of candy. “You just wait. The night’s not over yet,” he shouts back at her.
The next time you become frightened, whether you’re watching a scary movie, seeing something unexpected as you walk through the woods at dusk, or listening to an eerie sound coming from the attic, remember that your body is not actually paralyzed with fear. It’s going through a series of physiological reactions in order to ensure your survival.
Happy Halloween!
Where Does Fear Come From? - by National Geographic
We are born with just two innate fears – the fear of loud sounds and the fear of falling. Everything else is a learned fear, influenced by our culture and environment.
The amygdala, situated behind the eyes and over from the ear, acts as the brain’s alarm system. Without it, humanity would not have survived to the present day.
When the amygdala receives warning signs, such as pain and sound, it sends a signal to the body to respond by increasing respiration, blood pressure and heart rate, along with a surge of stress hormones.
The hippocampus triggers the “fight or flight” response. The hypothalamus signals the adrenal glands to pump hormones.
Why Do Some People Enjoy Being Scared?
While no one wants to experience a truly life-threatening situation, there are lots of people who thoroughly enjoy being frightened.
The natural high we experience during a “fight or flight” response can feel great. One of the hormones released during a frightening experience is dopamine. Research has shown that different brains release different amounts of dopamine that could explain why some of us get more of a kick out of fear than others.
How Can We Overcome Fear?
Studies have shown that one of the most effective ways to overcome a fear is to be continually exposed to it. Through constant exposure, the brain’s tolerance for the fear increases dramatically.
Why Do Different People Fear Different Things?
It all comes down to our environment and experiences. The society you’re raised in and the things you’re exposed to has will have a lot to do with what terrifies you. Studies have shown that humans can learn to be afraid of anything. One of the most famous of these was the ethically-questionable Baby Albert experiment in which a child was conditioned to experience fear at the sight of anything fluffy. The experiment was conducted in 1920, and the full name of the baby involved wasn’t revealed so we will probably never know the psychological impacts he experienced later in life…
Even the Fearless Can Be Afraid - by the Guardian
Fear is supposed to protect you. Even people who have a damaged amygdala can still feel fear. A patient known as S.M. has not experienced fear since she was a child, and has fascinated brain researchers for many years. In 2010, one team noted that she makes risky financial decisions in experimental economics games, because she isn't afraid of losing money. Another tried everything they could to frighten the life out of her - but failed. They showed her clips from some of the scariest horror films ever made, asked her to handle large spiders and snakes, and took her to a haunted house. On no occasion did she show the smallest sign of fear, even when faced with traumatic events and potentially life-threatening threats.
Inhaling carbon dioxide makes most people gasp for breath and can cause panic attacks, even patients with a damaged amygdala. They became fearful and panicky immediately after inhalation, even more so than the participants with intact brains. They described the feeling as the worst one they'd ever had, especially because they've never reacted that way ever before. Apparently the amygdala is not needed for the fearful response to carbon dioxide, or even for sensing the gas in the first place. It seems to be far more important for responses to threats from the outside world. The stimuli signalling a threat of suffocation – an increase in blood acidity – come from inside the body instead.
Picture this scenario.
On a dark Halloween night, a kid named Kyle, dressed as a mummy, walks through a neighborhood trick-or-treating. He gets a text from his friend Jamie. “A neighborhood across town is giving away full-size candy bars!” Kyle is reluctant to go because of the long trek to the other part of town, until he realizes he can cut through the old graveyard.
As Kyle walks through the gates of the graveyard with his sack of candy in tow, all he hears are gusts of a soft wind. It’s difficult to see due to the darkness and low-lying fog. He can make out the overlying trees and the outline of tombstones. With caution, he shuffles across the old graveyard. Suddenly, a dark figure appears from behind a gravestone. Spooked, Kyle freezes in fear. He drops his bag of treats. His body tenses up, legs and hands shaking. His heart is racing, and his pupils dilate as he sweats. His body is threatened and preparing itself for an attack!
What’s happening to Kyle? There are biological explanations for what happens to and within our bodies when we’re frightened. Fear triggers a primitive part of our brain that controls many involuntary functions.
Fear and our bodies
In the 1920s, a scientist by the name of Walter Cannon described the fight-or-flight response in his published works. It is an animal’s natural response when its survival is threatened. Our bodies go through the same physical and chemical processes in order to decide how we are going to deal with stressors. The following is a synopsis of the events that occur in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which functions in controlling involuntary actions.
- Sensory cells (our senses) are stimulated by a threat to our survival, such as seeing a wolf preparing to attack or feeling something brush by your leg when you’re wading in the ocean. In the above scenario, Kyle is spooked when an unknown shadowy figure appears before him in the graveyard.
- Information from our senses is sent to the area in our brains called the amygdala, which helps us make decisions.
- Through the ANS, the amygdala triggers the hypothalamus, whose primary role is to transfer the information from the nervous system to the endocrine system.
- The information from the hypothalamus tells the pituitary to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) into the blood.
- The release of the ACTH hormone stimulates the release of the hormones cortisol and epinephrine (adrenaline). In conjunction, these hormones help regulate the physical responses we have to fear.
Physiological effects of fear
The physical effects of these hormones include: increased heart rate (moves nutrient rich blood to vital organs and muscles), sweating (caused by the anticipation of the heat production of the oncoming physical activity), dilated pupils (allows far away vision, so we can assess threats from a distance), increased blood pressure (provides blood flow to vital organs essential to survival), increased lung activity (allows for maximal airflow), shaking, loss of hearing, and dry mouth.
Now you have a better understanding of the cascade of reactions occurring in Kyle’s body. He can run away, or he can confront the shadowy figure. Either way, his body is primed for activity.
As Kyle gets ready to brave the danger, the figure moves into view. It’s his friend Jamie, dressed as a vampire! She decided to meet him halfway, hide in the graveyard, and spook him. What a rotten but appropriate trick to play on her friend. Jamie drops to her knees laughing as Kyle picks up his sack of candy. “You just wait. The night’s not over yet,” he shouts back at her.
The next time you become frightened, whether you’re watching a scary movie, seeing something unexpected as you walk through the woods at dusk, or listening to an eerie sound coming from the attic, remember that your body is not actually paralyzed with fear. It’s going through a series of physiological reactions in order to ensure your survival.
Happy Halloween!
Where Does Fear Come From? - by National Geographic
We are born with just two innate fears – the fear of loud sounds and the fear of falling. Everything else is a learned fear, influenced by our culture and environment.
The amygdala, situated behind the eyes and over from the ear, acts as the brain’s alarm system. Without it, humanity would not have survived to the present day.
When the amygdala receives warning signs, such as pain and sound, it sends a signal to the body to respond by increasing respiration, blood pressure and heart rate, along with a surge of stress hormones.
The hippocampus triggers the “fight or flight” response. The hypothalamus signals the adrenal glands to pump hormones.
Why Do Some People Enjoy Being Scared?
While no one wants to experience a truly life-threatening situation, there are lots of people who thoroughly enjoy being frightened.
The natural high we experience during a “fight or flight” response can feel great. One of the hormones released during a frightening experience is dopamine. Research has shown that different brains release different amounts of dopamine that could explain why some of us get more of a kick out of fear than others.
How Can We Overcome Fear?
Studies have shown that one of the most effective ways to overcome a fear is to be continually exposed to it. Through constant exposure, the brain’s tolerance for the fear increases dramatically.
Why Do Different People Fear Different Things?
It all comes down to our environment and experiences. The society you’re raised in and the things you’re exposed to has will have a lot to do with what terrifies you. Studies have shown that humans can learn to be afraid of anything. One of the most famous of these was the ethically-questionable Baby Albert experiment in which a child was conditioned to experience fear at the sight of anything fluffy. The experiment was conducted in 1920, and the full name of the baby involved wasn’t revealed so we will probably never know the psychological impacts he experienced later in life…
Even the Fearless Can Be Afraid - by the Guardian
Fear is supposed to protect you. Even people who have a damaged amygdala can still feel fear. A patient known as S.M. has not experienced fear since she was a child, and has fascinated brain researchers for many years. In 2010, one team noted that she makes risky financial decisions in experimental economics games, because she isn't afraid of losing money. Another tried everything they could to frighten the life out of her - but failed. They showed her clips from some of the scariest horror films ever made, asked her to handle large spiders and snakes, and took her to a haunted house. On no occasion did she show the smallest sign of fear, even when faced with traumatic events and potentially life-threatening threats.
Inhaling carbon dioxide makes most people gasp for breath and can cause panic attacks, even patients with a damaged amygdala. They became fearful and panicky immediately after inhalation, even more so than the participants with intact brains. They described the feeling as the worst one they'd ever had, especially because they've never reacted that way ever before. Apparently the amygdala is not needed for the fearful response to carbon dioxide, or even for sensing the gas in the first place. It seems to be far more important for responses to threats from the outside world. The stimuli signalling a threat of suffocation – an increase in blood acidity – come from inside the body instead.
Let's check heart rates one or two more times...
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Does anticipation affect your heart rate, too?
Think about it / Write about it:
If fear creates energy for your body, how does that energy end up in a scream can for monsters to use?
If fear creates energy for your body, how does that energy end up in a scream can for monsters to use?