Day 2: Looking Inside Zeron's Head
[NB None of day two's filming is shown in the finished programme due to a lack of time]

Zeron: After yesterday's events Producer Steve thought it would be interesting to see what goes on in your brain when you get scared. Hey, after a day with snakes going for a brain scan sounded like a piece of piss. Mike had been explaining to me that some scientists think fear is learnt, whilst others believe that it's a mental process we are born with. Either way, it shows up in a certain area of the brain under some kind of magnetic scan.

Mike: It's weird looking into your mate's brain but that's exactly what we did today. After struggling through the London traffic, and enduring the miserable English weather, we managed to get to the Institute of Psychology at Denmark Hill where they use an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imager) to see what goes on in people's heads. Watching the MRI monitor I was greeted by a picture that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Saatchi Gallery in London - y'know, the place that exhibits those cows cut into sections. I guess what really freaked me out was that Zeron was only a couple of metres away and was still alive and well.

Our task for the day was to work out what part of his brain reacted to fear. In the past, scientists have done this by showing a group of people images that are likely to scare them and taking scans to reveal brain activity. Using such evidence scientists have suggested that the amygdala (a part of the brain within the limbic system) is active when you get scared. The scientists showed Zeron photos of people who were angry, neutral or disgusted. As he watched them a number of scans were taken.

Zeron: I was told to remove all metal from my person as the magnets used are extremely powerful. Mike was advised that he couldn't have the scan because he used to work as a mechanic and the throughout his years working on cars it is highly likely that we would have collected minute slivers of iron filings in his eye which would be pulled out by the magnet. And while unlikely to cause any real damage it's not a risk worth taking.

Inside the fMRI I had to keep very still. I was also worried if the scan would pick up any naughty thoughts I might have, so I fought to keep my mind focused on the job.

I was given four tasks. I had to select a friendly face, a terrifying face, a male face and and a female face as they flashed before my eyes. I must say I didn't feel anything much as the machine circled around my head but it did make a lot of clicking noises.

When I came out Mike jibed at me because I had labelled a few of the men as women!

To be honest I didn't find many of the faces scary, more ugly. If you want scary take pictures of London motorist on a road-rage bender! Those are terrifying faces.

Mike: After the visit to the MRI machine we met up with Professor Jeffrey Gray, a famous neuroscientist. He had a look at Zeron's scan and couldn't make anything out other than that he was using his eyes throughout the test. This was hardly a surprise, as he was meant to be looking at the photos - he wasn't going to do it with his ears! We chatted about what the scans might mean, and the kindest (and probably most honest) answer seemed to be that Zeron is naturally a cool character, and wasn't scared by the images. Sadly, none of this made it into the finished programme due to a lack of time. Bummer!

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Content last updated: 25/08/2005