Nicole+G.

= __Fight Or Flight Response__ = January 24, 2014 Wikipost #3

It's late and you are alone in your room with the lights off and you are playing a horror game on your computer. Creepy music plays on repeat in the background and you are walking down a hallway of an abandoned asylum and everything is dark and all you can see is what the night vision on your video recorder lets you see. You pass a door and decide to open it, perhaps there's a battery for your recorder or a way out, and suddenly as you reach for the door the music becomes intense and your heart starts beating fast and breath deepens. The door opens and you see nothing until an insane asylum patient holding a knife appears in front of you.

As a player your reaction would be to: This is typically known as the Fight or Flight response, a psychological reaction, also known as Acute Stress Response that occurs is the presence of something perceived as terrifying, harmful or a threat to survival. The asylum patient would be perceived as a frightening threat and your body automatically responds to it; you would either fight or flee.
 * 1) Try your quickest to get your character out of there and to safety while you are panicking.
 * 2)  Fight the knife- wielding lunatic.

__How does fight or flight work?__ As we know our nervous system is composed of two parts: the peripheral and central nervous systems. The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord and it's main function is to monitor movement, sensations, memories, speech and thought processes. The peripheral nervous system transmits signals from the limbs and organs to the central nervous system and it is split into two divisions: the somatic nervous system, which is said to be "under voluntary control" and the automatic nervous system, where actions are "automatic or involuntary". It is under the automatic nervous system that the fight or flight response occurs because of the ANS's further division into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

When faced with a situation where you are in fear or are stressed your hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous and the SNS send out impulses to the glands and muscles and tells the adrenal medulla to release epinephrine (better known as adrenaline ) and nor-epinephrine into the bloodstream. The release of these stress hormones causes changes in the body, such increased heart rate and blood-pressure. At the same time the hypothalamus initiates the adrenal-cortical system by the release corticotropin-relesing factor in the pituitary gland, which secretes the hormone ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone). The ACTH travels through the bloodstream until it arrives at the adrenal cortex and releases 30 hormones that help in preparing the body to deal with the threat.

After the threat has gone or the stress has relieved the parasympathetic system kicks in and begins to do the opposite effect of the sympathetic system. It lowers heart rate and blood pressure and returns dilated eyes to normal. Here is a following video that explains how fight or flight happens: media type="custom" key="24946744" align="center" For further reading and video viewing check out these sites:
 * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2GywoS77qc -here is a Bozeman science video where fight or flight is explained in detail.
 * http://kidshealth.org/teen/cancer_center/feelings/phobias.html -a post on fear and how it works along with the fight or flight.
 * http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/fight-or-flight.htm -a short Mythbusters clip.

__ Sources __
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight-or-flight_response
 * http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/fear2.htm
 * http://psychology.about.com/od/findex/g/fight-or-flight-response.htm
 * http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Describe_your_flight_or_fight_response?#slide=9
 * http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/whoami/findoutmore/yourbrain/howdoesyourbrainwork/howdoesyournervoussystemwork/whatdoestheperipheralnervoussystemdo.aspx