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Hi guys and welcome to Scare U. I'm Dr. Margee Kerr, Scare Specialist
here at The ScareHouse and today we'll be looking at that old skull of ours
and try to figure out what makes us respond to scary situations the way that we do.
Why is it that we jump at the loud thump
instead of realizing immediately it's just a book falling to the floor?
when we get scared or startled, our fear response tells us to get ready to fight
or get the heck out of there...fast.
Back in the day, and I'm not talking Dawn of Early Man back in the day
and not "Weekend at Bernies" back in the day
Our ancestors stayed alive thanks to the fight or flight response
that response has been passed down to us, leading us to our initial startle
our senses pick up on what startles us
a sudden noise, a strange flash of light...
and sends it to our Thalamus
The Thalamus is believed to both process sensory information as well as relay it
Thalamus by the way, is a really great word to throw around if you're trying to impress people
Just F Y I
Think of your body's defense system like a dual roller coaster
Like The Racer at Kennywood.
The Thalamus reacts to something weird
splitting that message into two maths, and sending it to the Amygdala
which is where threat is processed in the brain
basicallythe Amygdala is the watchtower of the body.
always looking out for a potential threat
The signal along the first, shorter path reaches the Amygdala first - which alerts the body to danger
we freeze, and our automatic nervous systems starts increasing our blood pressure
making us sweat
and raising our heart rate
the signal on the second path gets their a fraction of a second later
it's stopped by the sensory cortex on its way to help clarify the message
and let's us know that A) everything's fine or B) yes it's time to fight or run like the wind
tons of research has been done on this topic, so if you'd like to learn more
visit our blog at scarehouse.com - and check out our other classes too.
Thanks for tuning in and I'll see you next time on Scare U