Horror Neurobiology (WATCHING SCARY STUFF) with Austin Lim

Alie Ward (0:00)

Oh, hey, it's that bird outside the hardware store that dive bombed your mom's head 12 years ago, Alie Ward. And if you're here, you might like horror, or perhaps you've been sent this episode by someone who does, who just wants you to attend a midnight graveyard screening of Poltergeist just this once for them. Why do they love it? Why don't you? Or vice versa. Okay, so let's ask neuroscientists who like brains, and particularly one. By the way, Happy Spooktober.

For this episode, we went all out, like those neighbors who wait all year to bust out the 12-foot skeleton. And we made this almost horror anthology of past creepy episodes to explain what happens when the brain lets itself be scared on purpose, or you force it to be. Jury's out on that. So if you've been listening to Ologies for a while, you know that in October, we like to bring you explorations of autumn.

Some of the more spine-tingly episodes, but they're not all scary, okay?

This one, maybe a little bit. But for example, just sneak peek. Stay tuned this month for episodes on Whales Who Kill, The History of Brooms. We've got one on The Greatest Tales of Modern Folklore, like The Man Who Mothed His Way Too Close to the Moon. So we have quite a science-rich, sweet, gently creepy few weeks ahead. That's all coming up this month. But let's kick it off with that intersection of scariness, fiction, and your bundle of neurons. So first, though, quick thanks to all the listeners who submitted questions for this and support through patreon.com/ologies. Thank you to everyone out there in Ologies Merch from ologiesmerch.com. Thank you to the sweeties out there who leave reviews for the show, which help other future ologites discover us. And I do read them all, such as yours, The Nerdy Goose, who just wrote that they have found their people where biological vocab and puns are both welcomed and celebrated. The Nerdy Goose, I'm always going to be your proud father. So thank you to sponsors of the show also, who keep our lights on and the mics on and enable us to donate to charities every week.

Okay, Horror Neurobiology. So this ologist is an associate biology, psychology and neuroscience professor in the College of Science and Health at Chicago's DePaul University with a roster of courses, including the Brain and Behavior, Physiological Psychology, The Brain Through Science Fiction, and of course wrote the book on the topics titled Horror on the Brain, The Neuroscience Behind Science Fiction. I could not get them on fast enough, so we hopped on a call to kick off this creepiest month and he was flanked by a backdrop of bookshelves containing all kinds of fiction and content warning. We do talk about some scary stuff, but not too scary. We talk a little bit about trauma. There is one mention about self-harm ideation, but it stays pretty calm. Listen, we've tried to cover as much as we could in an hour or two. I don't know how long this is going to be. If we don't cover your favorite movie or series and you write to bitch at me about it, I will roll my eyes so hard I will die and then I will haunt you by hiding your keys and messing with your phone battery.

We clear on this? I covered as much as I could. Also, you may notice an arc here in my own journey with horror. I am not drawn to the genre per se, and I usually avoid it through the comfort of eternal neck pulled over my face. But somehow, this episode got me to see its darkness in a new light. I'm changed. All right. Let's get into the political psychology of zombies versus vampires, goosebumps, anxiety and scary movies, evolutionary mismatches, thrillers versus horrors versus gore, clowns breathing down your neck, feminist horror, and if the genre is having its moment with author, neuroscientist and horror neurobiologist, Dr. Austin Lim, and appearances by various ologists you'll be excited to meet.

Austin Lim (4:19)

Austin Lim, he, him.

Alie Ward (4:21)

And Dr. Lim.

Austin Lim (4:22)

That's correct, yes.

Alie Ward (4:25)

And so you are a neurobiologist, so you study the brain.

Austin Lim (4:30)

Yes. So that was all of my training. I did that sort of hardcore cellular, molecular level stuff for about a decade. And since then, I've realized that neither myself nor anyone I talk to really finds any of that stuff interesting. So I've sort of shifted my interest quite a bit.

Alie Ward (4:51)

I'm interested. I understand that the striatum is a focus of your work. And I don't know what that does. And I don't know how it relates to everyday life or horror. So can you tell me a little bit about what the striatum is?