THE SCIENCE OF FEAR: NEW STUDIES REVEAL HOW PEOPLE WHO ARE GENETICALLY FEARLESS CAN BE MADE TO FEEL FEAR IN A BRAND NEW WAY
Courtesy Everett Collection/ Rex Features
Many think of 'fearless' as that rare individual who everyone admires, who flies into the void without a parachute or closes himself inside a lion's cage.
Scientifically there is a different kind of fearless. It is called the Urbach-Wiethe disease. People who have the condition do not feel fear, or at least the manifestations that come with the brain sending the signal of 'fear'. The condition was believed until now to derive from the destruction of brain cells in the amygdala.
Some might think the individuals affected with such disease to be blessed. However, the impulse of fear is a primordial and essential evolutionary survival tool. Without it, man would attempt dangerous feats, because the brain would not alert them as to the potential outcome.
Some of the individuals afflicted with the condition were recently placed in a study to see what their reaction would be if they felt fear for the first time.
One such subjects of the study was given increasing levels of CO2, through a breathing mask, a procedure that quickly produces a sensation of fear, as the body chemistry changes and alerts the brain of the danger.
What was interesting in the study is that it revealed that the amygdala portion of the brain did not react to the stimulus in the same way it does in the healthy individual, i.e., one who does not have damage in that part of the brain.
What appeared evident is that these people did feel the fear in the end, but not the anticipation of it, the 'warning' if you wish.
What this study shows in effect, is that the brain can bypass the amygdala in its effort to signal fear. In this case, it seems that the Hypothalamus was mediating the fear response, just as in healthy individuals.
Source: Nature Neuroscience.
Scientifically there is a different kind of fearless. It is called the Urbach-Wiethe disease. People who have the condition do not feel fear, or at least the manifestations that come with the brain sending the signal of 'fear'. The condition was believed until now to derive from the destruction of brain cells in the amygdala.
Some might think the individuals affected with such disease to be blessed. However, the impulse of fear is a primordial and essential evolutionary survival tool. Without it, man would attempt dangerous feats, because the brain would not alert them as to the potential outcome.
Some of the individuals afflicted with the condition were recently placed in a study to see what their reaction would be if they felt fear for the first time.
One such subjects of the study was given increasing levels of CO2, through a breathing mask, a procedure that quickly produces a sensation of fear, as the body chemistry changes and alerts the brain of the danger.
What was interesting in the study is that it revealed that the amygdala portion of the brain did not react to the stimulus in the same way it does in the healthy individual, i.e., one who does not have damage in that part of the brain.
What appeared evident is that these people did feel the fear in the end, but not the anticipation of it, the 'warning' if you wish.
What this study shows in effect, is that the brain can bypass the amygdala in its effort to signal fear. In this case, it seems that the Hypothalamus was mediating the fear response, just as in healthy individuals.
Source: Nature Neuroscience.
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