How the brain responds to OMG! moments

Remember that popular YouTube clip that features an affable dude dancing into a street? He's dancing from side to side, as he backs his way into the middle of a neighborhood street -- and WHAM! An ice cream truck that seems to come out of nowhere crashes into him. He's OK -- he even got his "web redemption" on a recent "Tosh.0" episode-- but getting hit by a truck is what you might call a shock, both to him and to his eventual millions of YouTube viewers.

But watching situations that are jarring to us are no big deal to our brains, suggests a new study published in the February issue of the journal Cortex. The processes in our brain's orbitofrontal cortex (the brain's "decider") remain the same, no matter how unexpected or frightening an event may be, says lead author Armin Schnider of the University Hospitals of Geneva in Switzerland.

"The context of this research is the brain’s ability to remain in phase with ongoing reality while allowing thoughts (memories) to freely float," Schnider explains. But while brain patterns don't change if you're merely surprised, all bets are off if you're in actual danger and need to quickly react, not think about it, she says.

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Schnider supervised a team of researchers, who recorded functional magnetic resonance images, or fMRI, while volunteers were repeatedly shown an image of a pair of faces. The participants were told to predict the face on which a "target" would appear -- either a simple black circle, or a freaky spider. Whether the spider or the circle showed up, a cerebral network that included the orbitofrontal cortex was activated.

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

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Schnider agrees that his findings are comforting, in a way -- unexpected events may give us a jolt, but to our brains, it's business as usual.

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