Daredevil Climber’s Brain Shows No Fear During Extreme Stunts: Experts Reveal Why

American professional climber Alex Honnold upped the ante during his recent urban climb in Taiwan.

The daredevil athlete scaled the Taipei 101 skyscraper on January 25 without ropes or protective equipment. The event was broadcast live on Netflix, as News Digital previously reported.

Honnold successfully reached the top of the 101-story steel building in just one hour and 31 minutes, waving his arms in victory at the top. He later noted that the view was “amazing,” even though it was windy.

MAN TURNS GLOBAL SKYSCRAPER INTO HIS MOST DANGEROUS DESTINATION OF ALL: ‘PRETTY SURREAL’

As a career climber, Honnold’s conquests have included major mountain ranges across the United States, as well as the enormous sea cliffs of Greenland, three times the size of the Empire State Building.

In a 2016 experiment, neuroscientist Jane Joseph set out to discover what was in Honnold’s brain that possessed him to undertake such a terrifying escalation by scanning it.

The doctor was one of the first to perform fMRI scans on “high sensation seekers,” according to a Nautilus report.

Joseph and a team of technicians discovered that Honnold’s amygdala showed little activity in reaction to images that would normally trigger fear and stress reactions.

“Nowhere in the fear center of Honnold’s brain could the neuroscientist detect activity,” the report states.

PSYCHIATRIST REVEALS HOW SIMPLE MINDSET CHANGES CAN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE CHRONIC PAIN

The researchers changed the experiment and introduced a reward task in which Honnold could win money. Normally, a control subject’s amygdala and other brain structures “look like a lit Christmas tree,” Joseph said.

But Honnold’s was “lifeless in black and white.” The activity was shown only in regions that process visual information, confirming that he was awake and looking at the screen.

“There’s just not a lot going on in my brain,” Honnold told Joseph. “It just doesn’t do anything.”

Dr. Daniel Amen, founder of Amen Clinics and a California-based psychiatrist, did not scan Honnold’s brain, but he is an expert in brain imaging.

In brain scans of other extreme athletes and adrenaline junkies, Amen said there is often lower baseline activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in fear inhibition, impulse control and risk assessment.

“Their brains are ‘scared’ less easily and are more driven by challenge and novelty.”

In these individuals, there is also strong activation of reward and motivation circuits, or dopamine pathways, according to Amen.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE News APP

“That is, high stimulation feels normal, or even necessary, for them to feel engaged,” he said. “Some also show reduced reactivity in the amygdala, so situations that provoke fear in most people do not produce the same alarm response.”

He added: “In short, their brains get ‘scared’ less easily and feel more driven by challenge and novelty.”

Based on nearly 300,000 brain scans performed at Amen Clinics, Dr. Amen noted that in people like Honnold, who are “elite extreme performers,” the key difference compared to the average brain is “exceptional top-down control.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES

“The prefrontal cortex remains online and organized under stress, enabling precise focus, emotional regulation, and decision-making in high-risk environments,” he said. “Fear circuits are activated enough to sharpen attention, but not enough to overwhelm performance.”

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER

Brains like Honnold’s also tend to be “very efficient” at sensory-motor integration, or when vision, balance and motor planning “work together perfectly.”

“Instead of panicking, the brain enters a highly regulated flow state pattern where attention is tight, calm and precise,” he said.

In the average brain, fear circuits tend to fire faster and stronger, according to Amen, and the prefrontal cortex “tends to shut down” under threat, causing hesitation, overthinking, or panic.

“Most people experience a strong mismatch between perceived risk and control, which protects survival but limits extreme performance,” he said.

TRY OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

“For the average person, high adrenaline impairs precision and judgment; for extreme athletes, it organizes the brain,” he said.

“Their brains are not reckless: they are better regulated under stress, while the average brain prioritizes safety and avoidance.”

News Digital’s Jessica Mekles contributed reporting.