We all experience fear but few of us understand it. It  usually happens when we feel unsafe or threatened. It is both instinctual and learned. And for some, it can take over their lives while for others, it can be a source for excitement. On this week’s show, we’re going to take a closer look at fear and why it's such a strange and fascinating aspect of our existence.

Our first guests are studying how fear exists in the brain and how it impacts our lives, They're Jacob Raber and Sydney Weber Boutros. He’s a professor of behavioural neuroscience at the Oregon Health and Science University and she is earning her doctorate in this field. They are taking the lead on a worldwide project known as Neuroqualia, which seeks to understand how our emotions affect us. We learn of the nature of fear from a biological perspective and the process of experiencing fear is far more complicated than you might think. It’s not simply a matter of being scared, it’s how we interpret the situation and respond based on our pasts. We explore the concept of fear memory and one of the most troubling consequences, post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. We also find out how we may be able to extinguish certain fears by keeping our bodies and our minds in a safe place.

Our next guest explores one of the side effects of fear – seeing things that don’t exist, scientifically called false agency detection. His name is Adam Tratner and he is a doctoral student at Oakland University. His research focuses on finding out what situations can lead to this phenomenon and whether it is fear rather than belief that causes us to experience the supernatural and paranormal.    

In our SASS Class, we take a different look at fear – as entertainment. Our guest teacher is Glenn Sparks and he is a Professor of Communication at Purdue University. He’s explored why some people tend to love horror films and other fear-inducing violence and mayhem. We discuss what gives people that urge to venture into a theatre and get scared out of their minds. The answer happens to be less about the fear and more about the joy that comes with being safe.   

Twitter: @JATetro
Email: [email protected]

Guests:

Jacob Raber
Web: https://www.ohsu.edu/people/jacob-raber/831E0CC1C990434DA01DB6D91753AD75

Sydney Weber Boutros
Web: https://www.ohsu.edu/school-of-medicine/behavioral-neuroscience/sydney-weber-boutros
Twitter: @SydWeberBoutros

Adam Tratner
Web: https://adamtratner.com/

Glenn Sparks
Web: https://cla.purdue.edu/directory/profiles/glenn-sparks.html
Twitter: @purduespar

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