Question

Jayden, who is terrified of snakes, is walking down the street when he sees a stick that looks somewhat like a snake. He immediately becomes fearful, despite knowing that what he sees is only a stick. An area of the brain called the _____ is responsible for Jayden's fear reaction.

Answer 1

Even though what Jayden saw was just a piece of stick which resembles a snake, his brain was triggered because he has a background of having fear of snakes. The part of the brain which is responsible for the emotions felt by Jayden is called the amygdala. The amygdala is described  as that one of those two-almond shaped groups of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain in complex vertebrates, including humans. The amygdala is part of the limbic system which is responsible in memory processing, decision-making, and emotional reactions. This part of our brain is linked to the other parts of our brain which are responsible in governing our senses, muscles and hormones. This is also the brain part which enables our bodies to quickly react to the sight or sound of threat. Via the cortex, the same information travels here and put together to form the whole picture. Though the information travels slower through this route,this allows the behavior to be  modified if the situation isn't as dangerous as it first seemed.