Brains Go on “Tilt”: Why We Struggle with Novelty, Stress, Overload, and Change
The feeling is familiar: frustration bubbles over, logic seems to vanish, and simple tasks become maddening. Our brains, those marvelous organs of reason and adaptation, can sometimes feel like they’ve gone on “tilt,” been thrown off-kilter by the unexpected or the overwhelming. But why does this happen, and what’s the neuroscience behind this frustrating, very human phenomenon?
AMYGDALA HIJACK — One key player is the amygdala, our brain’s alarm system. Tiny but powerful, the amygdala feels a call to action when faced with novelty, stress, or the threat of change, and floods the body with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These prepare us for a fight-or-flight reaction, which can be handy if facing a saber-tooth tiger, but that also come at a cognitive cost. Cortisol, in particular, impairs the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for logical thinking and decision-making. Those stress hormones can drown out logic.
During those moments, a person struggles to process complex information or make sound judgments. What the man or woman so infected experiences is emotional dysregulation. Mentally, the event may loom like a huge menacing monster, strobe-lighting red, yellow, and black flames as it drops onto the living room carpet three feet away. Horrors! No wonder we battle…
