All language subtitles for NG.Brain.Games.Season.2.03of12.Dont.Be.Afraid.PDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org-eng

Pay attention.

We're going to
play a game.

Try to count the
number of signs on

this winding forest road.

Ready?

Go!

Ahhhh!

Did we scare you?

There's a good chance
you just jumped back

in your seat.

But we're not just
messing with you.

The reaction you
just had could actually

save your life.

This is a show
about your brain and

how you respond to fear.

It's not comfortable.

Turn on the lights!

We're gonna put you

through a series
of games and experiments.

One, two, three.

God!

And if you play along,
you'll be scared.

Get out
of my house!

You'll get that tingling

feeling down your spine.

Ughh!

And you
might just learn how

to face your fears.

Prepare to be afraid
on Brain Games.

Subtitles Captions by National Geographic

Sync & Corrected by iscol

BRAIN GAME

I don't
want to go down.

Nice scare, dude.

You know, we all
like being scared.

Well,
maybe not all of us.

On one hand,
you have people going out

of their way to avoid scary
situations, obviously.

But then you have
other people spending

millions of dollars
watching scary movies,

reading
Stephen King novels,

or coming to haunted
houses like Nightmare,

right here in
New York City.

But it turns out
that a healthy dose of

fear might actually
help keep you alive.

Let's get back to
that scare we gave

you a minute ago.

Did you jump when
the demon popped up?

Ahhhh!

If you did,

that's a completely
normal reaction.

But why were you scared?

He's just an actor
in makeup and latex.

There's no way he could
possibly hurt you.

Ahhhh!

Simple jump
scares like this one show

you just how powerful your
brain's fear response is.

Fear is your
brain's alarm system,

triggered by sudden
motions, sounds, anything

that could threaten
your safety or survival.

So how good is your
brain at recognizing

potential threats?

It might be better
than you think.

To find out,
let's play a game.

Watch this series of
images very closely.

Ready?

Go.

Do you recall seeing
any shoes or keys?

Probably not.

At this speed,
80% of the people we

showed this to don't
see either the shoes

or the keys.

We'll slow it down.

Did you see
them this time?

You probably did.

Now we're going to
play a different series

of images and test
you on them after.

Ready?

Go.

Did you happen to notice
any snakes or spiders?

Chances are, you did.

In case you're thinking
we slowed down the images,

I assure
you we did not.

All we did was
substitute the shoes and

keys with pictures
of snakes and spiders.

Why did one set of
images jump out at you

while the other didn't?

To answer that question
is Dr. Kamran Fallahpour,

an expert on
the psychological

effects of fear.

Your brain scans these

spiders and snakes
much faster because

to our ancestors,

these animals
were a threat.

Your brain has
evolved to recognize them,

because from an
evolutionary point of view,

it would
help our survival.

So what's
going on in your brain

that allows you to spot
these threats so quickly?

There's a part
of the brain,

called the amygdala that
is constantly monitoring

the input from your senses
for signs of danger.

In many ways,
the amygdala is like a

smoke detector
in your home.

It may sit inactive for
long stretches of time,

but as soon as you
encounter a dangerous

situation, your amygdala
sounds the alarm.

As you're starting to see,
it doesn't take much to

set your amygdala off, any
sound or image that reads

as a threat can put your
brain into survival mode.

And the makers
of horror movies know

exactly what buttons
to push to trigger your

amygdala
for maximum effect.

Meet Producer
and Director Larry Fessenden.

He's made over
20 horror films.

I think
everything has the

potential to be terrifying
and I want to convey that

to an audience so they
feel as unsettled as I do.

Stop.

Pay attention.

Watch the following
scenes closely.

Were you scared?

Probably not, unless you
find exercise terrifying.

Now let's watch the
same scene again.

So what
do you think?

Did the scene
suddenly become

a whole lot scarier?

Why does changing the
music and sound effects

change the entire
mood of the scene?

Music
can make an otherwise

charming-looking object
into something menacing.

But it's
not just any sound

that can trigger a fear
response in your brain.

We're going to play
a game to show

you what we mean.

And all you have
to do is listen and

notice how these
sounds make you feel.

Ready?

Close your eyes
and listen closely.

Go!

Okay, you
can open your eyes.

How did that
make you feel,

maybe a little scared?

But why are those
sounds so terrifying?

What's
interesting about these

high-pitched sounds
is that they kind

of mimic the cry of a
baby in distress.

And since we are so
tuned in to respond to

danger to our young;

it would be a very
visceral reaction

to these sounds.

With no
greater threat to the

species than the
destruction of our young,

your brain is
conditioned to detect these

high-pitched frequencies.

So far, we've set off your
primal alarm system using

basic scare techniques
involving sounds and images.

While being startled
might make your heart

skip a beat,
there's an even more

intense
category of fear.

A long, drawn out
feeling of uneasiness

known as dread.

In this next experiment,
we're gonna show you just

how powerful dread can be.

I should know, I
was the guinea pig.

Deception specialist
Apollo Robbins has created

an experiment
designed to maximize

the feeling of dread.

When I think of fear,

I'm reminded of an
old game of risk.

They would take
a gun and load it

with a single bullet.

They would revolve the
chamber and take turns

firing at their heads,

until one of
them backed out or.

But I
don't think it's the

bullet that makes
Russian roulette scary.

I think it's
the anticipation.

What I'm going to
show you is not something

for the faint of heart.

This is a real
beer bottle that's not

made out of sugar.

No, it's not.

So,
we're going to do this

as a game of chance.

Can I use that
hammer there?

Instead of a bullet,

We're
going to use that.

That's
pretty sharp.

The bags
will act as the bullets.

One of these has
a bottle inside.

The bottle has the
razor sharp points.

Apollo wants
us to take turns jamming

our hands into bags
chosen at random.

Which means one of us
might smash our hand on

the broken bottle.

Would
you try this with me?

What series
of bad decisions did I

make to get me to this
point in my life?

I don't
want to smash the.

Are you crazy?

Can you cover mine and

I'll cover yours?

Oh God!

Jason if you would,

please choose
one of the bags.

Now go and hold up your
left hand like this.

I'm uh, how hard are

you going to push down?

If you do this slowly,

if you watch here,

Yea.

Put your
hand above, like this.

Oh God!

One, two and three.

I don't know if I want
to play this game.

Okay, um,

let's use my
left hand.

Go ahead.

Hold
you like that.

Okay, ready?

Uh, one last choice,

this is 50/50.

We'll do it together.

So we've done one each
in both of our hands.

Can you just grab
hold of my wrist and

pull that down?

We'll just put your
hand underneath.

Oh c'mon!

No!

All right.

No, no, no.

One, two, three.

Oh God!

Okay.

Oh God!

Ugh!

Okay, clearly that
was a really intense

experience for me,
but why?

Obviously the
rational side of me

knew I wasn't
in danger.

I knew Apollo wouldn't
let me get hurt,

but along the way he
provided very powerful

visual and
descriptive cues

that really built
up my dread.

All these moments that
Apollo constructed caused

my brain to second-guess
my rational thinking that

I was safe.

When he clamped his hand
on mine and I knew it was

too late to turn back,
powerful chemical changes

started taking
place in my body.

My brain triggered the
release of adrenaline and

other stress hormones,
causing those classic fear

symptoms like sweaty
palms and that tingling

sensation that runs
down your spine.

While you probably won't
find yourself forced to

play Russian
roulette with Apollo,

there are many
instances in your

daily life where you
experience dread.

For many,
boarding a plane,

walking down a
deserted street at night,

or even the sound of
a dentist's drill can

trigger this biological
fear response.

In fact, research has
shown that the same area

of your brain that is
active when you're in pain

also lights up when you're
experiencing dread.

If just thinking about
this is causing you dread

and making you feel like
your brain is working

against you, we're
about to show how your

brain is actually
looking out for you.

Stop.

Pay attention.

You're about to go on
a scavenger hunt in a

haunted house.

See if you can spot the
following objects hidden

in the rooms.

Look out for the palm
tree, rubber chicken,

crown, photograph, rat,
guitar, watermelon,

nametag, and
bride and groom.

Ready?

Go.

Please help me,
please help me.

Won't you
be quiet, please?

I just need to
examine you;

I'm just going
to look at you.

Agh, agh!

Mommy
he's hurting me!

Get out of
my house!

Get out!

So
how did you do?

How many items
did you spot?

Here's where
they were.

With
hundreds of objects in

your line of sight during
this 30-second tour,

why were you able to
remember any of these?

The latest research shows
that the answer lies in

your brain's
fear and emotional

processing center.

When fear or heightened
emotion is activated at a

conscious or even
subconscious level,

as the haunted house
tour did for many of you,

it causes your
amygdala to make your

memory hyper-aware.

You don't even have to
know that your brain is in

this emotional state
for it to work.

You may have noticed this
happening if you've ever

received shocking news
or been in an accident.

When that happens, time
seems to slow down and

your brain acts
like a camera,

recording every detail.

Do you remember where
you were during 9/11?

If you do, that's because
the shock of the event

caused the memory to be
imprinted into your brain.

These types of memories
are known as flashbulb

memories and they happen
for a very good reason.

It's no
accident that our memory

gets more robust during
a fearful situation.

Our brain is trying to
help us not only to

survive that moment, but
it's also trying to create

a catalogue of certain
cues within this event

that it needs to watch
out for in the future.

So if your brain can
actually help you predict

something bad that's
going to happen before it

actually happens, then
it can help you survive.

By now you
should have a better

understanding of why fear
causes sweaty palms or

that sick feeling
in the pit of your stomach,

as well as how fear
has helped us survive

as a species.

And you've seen the
difference between fear

and dread, but there's a
third response that can

happen and it's what
we call anxiety.

Anxiety can occur
whenever you are unable

to confirm whether
a threat is false or real.

And your imagination
begins running through

worst-case scenarios.

Put simply, your brain's
default setting when it

comes to the unknown is.

We're setting
up an experiment to

see how anxious we can
make a group of volunteers

and to help us;

we've enlisted the
help of John Harlacher,

co-director of
one of New York's

scariest haunted houses.

We are
going to take some

volunteers, and put
them one by one into a

pitch-black room where
they can't see anything.

There, we will
manipulate them,

using some of the
brain's most primal,

hard-wired fears.

Think about
being a primitive human

living in a cave.

It's pitch black out.

You hear a noise.

You don't want to
investigate because,

who knows what's
out there.

With limited
sensory input,

all you can really do
is sit and wait as your

imagination runs wild.

The dark room experiment
we're about to run is

going to create a
situation very similar to

that primitive cave.

So let's meet our
participants.

Rina.

Never see horror movies

or anything like that.

You never see
horror movies, okay.

No.

Brian.

How do you feel?

All right.

And Richie.

You should
be all right.

That's
because I don't know

what's going on.

We started tapping into

their basic fears
right in the waiting room.

The blackout goggles and
the white noise headphones

create a
sense of isolation.

Strapping them to the
wheelchair took away all

sense of control.

We're
shutting down their

ability to use most
of their senses,

in an effort to see if
their own imaginations are

enough to get their
heart rates pumping.

Will any of them
make it through?

Or will their anxiety
get the best of them?

I want out!

Our volunteers can't
see, can't move,

can't hear and they're
starting to freak out.

It's not comfortable.
It's not comfortable?

No, no, no, no!

Turn on the lights!

Too scary?
Yeah.

Can't do it?
Nope.

You don't want to push through?
Nope.

One of our participants is so scared

she's insisting on stopping immediately.

My heart was racing very fast.

Being moved in the
chair for some reason,

I don't know, it made me feel helpless.

Here's what happened to Rina.

When your amygdala
sounds the fear alarm,

your brain releases
a rush of adrenaline and

diverts blood to your
muscles in order to fuel

what's known as the
fight or flight response.

By quitting
the experiment,

Rina demonstrated a
classic flight response.

Rina must
have a wild imagination,

because we told her
she was going to be scared

and put her in the
chair and she imagined

such terrible things
were going to happen to her

that she didn't even let
herself go into the darkroom.

Her mind scared her.

If Rina was
scared in the waiting room,

there's no way she
could handle what else

we had in store.

The first volunteer to
actually make it into the

dark room is Brian.

Once inside, we gave
him an up-close and

personal look
at the bugs.

Ugh!

And a rat.

Ah, ah!

But everything
is not as it seems to be.

And in a minute, we'll let
you in on a little secret.

But first, let's take a
look at Brian's reaction

when he feels the
creatures crawling all

over his body.

Ughh aghhh,!

Now let's
see what happens

when we throw
a snake in his lap.

Ugh, ,
, ughh!

Unlike Rina,

Brian chose the other
half of fight or flight.

His
reaction to fear is an

aggressive reaction.

He was
trying to fight the fear.

But fight
isn't the f word that

Brian is choosing to use.

, ,!

Ah!

While Rina
fled and Brian lashed out,

Richie appears as
cool as a cucumber.

That's because along
with fight or flight,

there is a third response.

Freezing.

Nothing we
did seemed to affect him

from the control room.

He's like an
animal playing dead.

You might
think being frozen in fear

is a sign of weakness;

an inability to react
to a scary situation.

But it's actually a
biologically engrained

survival technique
that helps you go

unnoticed by predators.

For the final stage, we
are leaving them in the

dark for long stretches,
letting their anxiety build.

At this point,
they are in such a

heightened state of fear;

we don't have to do
anything to scare them.

Turn on the lights!

We had
absolutely no control.

I was freaked out.

The anticipation is
what did it for me.

That's the scariest
part of anything.

So
here's that little

secret we mentioned.

We never put bugs or rats
or snakes on anyone.

Ah,!

There were
only pistachio nuts,

Ah!

Funny
gloves and some rope.

And what this
proves is how easy it is

to trigger your
fear response.

This served us well
in ancient times,

when threats
were abundant,

but in today's safer
modern society,

it can be harmful.

And here's why.

Your brain is still
operating on the incorrect

assumption that every fear
situation you face is a

matter of life or death.

As a result,
your brain tends to

overreact to trivial,
non-life-threatening

situations, causing you to
experience undue anxiety.

The next time you're
gripped with fear,

you have to ask yourself,
are you really in danger?

Or is it all in
your mind?

We all know the
bad parts of fear,

but there is a
positive side as well.

Fear of death and
destruction is what keeps

us awake at night
thinking about ways to

make things better.

If we didn't
fear the disease,

we would never
invent the cure.

Fear of the Russians
put a man on the moon.

Fear of the dark
invented the light bulb.

Fear of no future will
cause us to ensure the

certainty of our future.

The day mankind
stops being afraid,

now that's something
to be scared of.

Ahhhh!