OBSERVATORY
Humans, Like Animals, Behave Fearlessly Without the Amygdala
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
Published: NYTimes: December 16, 2010
In the 1930s, researchers discovered that when a certain part of monkeys’ brains was removed, the animals became fearless. They approached snakes, started batting them around like sticks and played with their hissing tongues.
This experiment has been repeated in animals numerous times, and the scientific consensus is that when the amygdala is removed, an animal loses any sense of fear.
Now, scientists have confirmed that a missing amygdala results in similar behavior in humans, according to a study in the journal Current Biology.
“There’s not very many humans with this sort of brain damage,” said Justin Feinstein, the study’s lead author and a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Iowa. “Luckily for us, we had access to a patient, SM, and we studied her different fear behaviors and we read her personal diaries.”
Patient SM, because of a rare condition called lipoid proteinosis, has holes where her amygdala would normally reside. Researchers found that she, like the monkeys, has no fear of creatures like snakes and spiders, which ordinarily alarm most people.
But while this behavior is relatively benign, the researchers also found that SM put her life at risk. In one instance, she walked through a park alone at night and was attacked by a man with a knife.
“The following day, she again walked through the same park,” Mr. Feinstein said.
Mr. Feinstein and his colleagues are trying to coach the patient to behave in a more cautious manner. They also believe that understanding how the mind of a patient like SM works could help researchers develop therapies for individuals who express excessive amounts of fear, like war veterans.
“We may be able to dampen the effects of the amygdala,” he said. “We can do that through psychotherapy and possibly through medication.”
Hey Allan, this is an interesting discovery and honestly it sounds like a fantasy-land commodity to me. In any case, if this is going to work among humans and without too many side effects, I guess, fear will therefore die a natural death.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my concern is,if all human beings become fearless, for how long will they live without taking some unnecessary risks including those that will shorten their lifespans? If, like you pointed out "monkeys approached snakes, started batting them around like sticks and played with their hissing tongues", what dangerous things will human beings start to play with? I do not really know!
I think this report points up a possible procedural aspect of studying "fear". The biology/neuroscience angle points toward specific types of healing that surely are needed. But I suspect the data about the brain can't be generalized into areas of human conduct except in very specific cases and situations (someones brain is damaged....they are fearless.....they wreak havoc due to this).
ReplyDeleteRather, in issues of human conduct (socially transacted) like "leadership" we are going to be stuck for quite a while I think discussing "perceptions of fear" (within ourselves, observed in others, caused by others). And for the most part we will work interpretively with the best reports of "what fear is," "how it is experienced (felt and understood)", how it is contextualized in different human, non-human and physical environments. These it seems to me are where the interdisciplinary insights need to emerge....from descriptions and narratives. It's not so much understanding the causes of something we call fear. But getting a more nuanced understanding of what the concept of "fear" encompasses: how the instances are perceived and known and described....and then finally what effect these perceptions have on human the qualities of human transactions?
Very interesting.
The other day Kurt sent me an interesting article on "aesthetic leadership". Although I don't think it is very compelling in creating something called that.... it does review rather closely the need for qualitative study in leadership. Somewhat along the lines that we criticized various studies in Bass last term. You might want to contact Kurt for a copy of this article since I think what's being recommended (along the lines of interdisciplinary study recommended by Clifford Geertz) could be useful in grasping that dimension of transactions that is characterized as "fear".