The Fear control center: the amygdala
The human brain has always adapted to what it needs best. In the modern world that humans live in today, it doesn't always need ancient danger tactics, so they are thrown into the smallest part of the brain to emerge when needed, if ever. The amygdala is now responsible for fear and danger responses and has shown in studies to be the most active part of the brain during horror movies. This is because your brain is trying to decide whether the thing on the screen is real in order to react to the situation. So, the brain puts the amygdala on overload trying to decide if it needs to run away or if it can stay. Some of the reactions that take place in the amygdala are the famous "fight or flight", reactions to a human conflict, and even philosophical reactions like "could this be an alien?" because of some of the films like Alien or E.T. The amygdala has saved the human race from animal attacks back during the prehistoric era, but now it has no real common use. But, during a good horror movie, the amygdala has a field day telling the body what to do. First, it tells the adrenal glands to start pumping out adrenaline. Next, it tells the parts of the brain associated with reaction quickness, the neurons, to be ready for anything. So, if the person needs to run away, the neurons will be very quick to react. Lastly, the amygdala tells the visual and the auditory cortex that what they are hearing and seeing, isn't really real because the person would be dead if it were. The amygdala is really the reason why the entire brain loves or hates horror movies because it is the part of the brain that handles all of the reactions to the movie!
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