Scare Your Brain for Fun and Profit

“Brains!” says the zombie before you. The word gurgles out of his mouth as he shuffles in your direction, one inexorable step after the other. Your vision becomes super acute, noticing every detail: his pant leg ripped to shreds, the way one shoulder is hitched higher than the other, the yellow glow in his eyes. Your heart is racing, your fingers are tingling, your legs coiled and ready to run. And all the while, your frontal lobe calmly evaluates the situation, and keeps you in your seat. Instead of running, you shove another mouthful of popcorn in your face

There’s a reason why people love scary movies, but an even better reason why they don’t run away in panic at the sight of the first undead brain-eater. Basically, while your amygdala, deep inside your limbic system (your “old” brain”) processes emotions, making you “scared,” your frontal lobes in your “modern” brain are evaluating your options and making decisions.

Your amygdala is in communication with your adrenal gland, which is pumping out the chemicals to prime your body for flight. And as everyone who’s ever watched a Mountain Dew commercial knows, adrenaline can be a rush, a thrill.

But it’s no fun to actually be chased down by blood-thirsty monsters. Your frontal lobes know the difference between reality and fantasy, and so all of the fear is, for want of a better word, fake. You know you’re safe, but you feel scared, and this ironic situation is fun. (For some people, it’s even funny).

Laughing as the scream, popcorn flying out of their mouths, as the zombies reaches out, fingers curled in filthy claws, his mouth drooling bile as he moans “Braaaaaaaains!”