Climbing Without Fear— Life Without Your Amygdala
Before last year’s Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo” made a worldwide star out of Alex Honnold’s amygdala, few people knew it existed. Though essential to the human experience, this walnut-sized bit of gray matter doesn’t get talked about much. Its position, buried deep in the center of the brain, probably damages its celebrity status. Though this detracts from its popularity, deep inside the brain is a prime spot for an integration center like the amygdala.
The amygdala is a specialized integration center, designed specifically to take in multiple stimuli and push out an emotion. It’s the part of the brain that makes a gun look scary, a grassy knoll bucolic, and a fluffy dog endearing. Perhaps the most famous example of amygdalar function is our “is that a snake?!” reaction. When seen from the corner of your eye, a garden hose can look a lot like a garden snake. As you browse your garden, the rough shape and size of the hose is picked up by your eyes and passed to your amygdala. It takes this blurred information in and sends a rapid fear signal out. The amygdala calls on your adrenal glands to secrete adrenaline, tells your muscles to snap your head in that direction, and gets your body ready to run. Within a second, the rest of your brain catches up, your object recognition centers kick in, you relax and have a bit of a giggle at yourself. After all…
