Daredevil climber's brain shows no fear during extreme stunts: Experts reveal why

U.S. nonrecreational stone climber Alex Honnold upped the ante during his caller municipality ascent successful Taiwan. 

The daredevil jock scaled the Taipei 101 skyscraper connected Jan. 25 with nary ropes oregon protective equipment. The lawsuit was streamed unrecorded connected Netflix, arsenic Fox News Digital antecedently reported.

Honnold successfully reached the acme of the 101-story alloy gathering successful conscionable an hr and 31 minutes, waving his arms successful triumph astatine the top. He aboriginal noted the presumption was "amazing," adjacent though it was windy.

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As a vocation climber, Honnold's conquests person included large upland ranges crossed the U.S., positive Greenland’s monolithic oversea cliffs — 3 times the size of the Empire State Building.

In a 2016 experiment, neuroscientist Jane Joseph acceptable retired to observe what successful Honnold’s encephalon possessed him to instrumentality connected specified scary climbing by scanning it. 

U.S. stone climber Alex Honnold is pictured connected Jan. 25, 2026. He reached the apical of the Taipei 101 gathering successful Taiwan aft successfully free-soloing the landmark skyscraper without ropes oregon information gear.  (Corey Rich for Netflix; AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

The doc was 1 of the archetypal to execute fMRI scans — functional magnetic resonance imaging — connected "high sensation seekers," according to a Nautilus report.

Joseph and a squad of technicians recovered that Honnold’s amygdala showed small enactment successful absorption to images that would typically trigger fearfulness and accent reactions.

"Nowhere successful the fearfulness halfway of Honnold’s encephalon could the neuroscientist spot activity," the study noted.

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The researchers flipped the experiment, introducing a reward task wherever Honnold could triumph money. Normally, a power subject’s amygdala and different encephalon structures "look similar a Christmas histrion lit up," Joseph said.

But Honnold’s was "lifeless successful achromatic and white." Activity showed lone successful the regions that process ocular input — confirming that helium was awake and looking astatine the screen.

A antheral wrong the gathering is shown signaling Honnold arsenic helium climbs the Taipei 101 gathering without ropes oregon information cogwheel successful Taipei connected Jan. 25, 2026. (I-Hwa Cheng/AFP via Getty Images)

"There’s conscionable not overmuch going connected successful my brain," Honnold told Joseph. "It conscionable doesn’t bash anything."

Dr. Daniel Amen, the laminitis of Amen Clinics and a California-based psychiatrist, did not scan Honnold’s encephalon but is an adept successful encephalon imaging.

In the encephalon scans of different utmost athletes and adrenaline junkies, Amen said there’s often little baseline enactment successful the prefrontal cortex, which is progressive successful fearfulness inhibition, impulse power and hazard evaluation.

"Their brains are little easy ‘scared’ and much powerfully driven by situation and novelty."

In these individuals, determination is besides a beardown activation of reward and information circuits, oregon dopamine pathways, according to Amen.

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"Meaning, precocious stimulation feels mean — oregon adjacent indispensable — for them to consciousness engaged," helium said. "Some besides amusement reduced reactivity successful the amygdala, truthful situations that trigger fearfulness successful astir radical don’t nutrient the aforesaid alarm response."

He added, "In short, their brains are little easy ‘scared’ and much powerfully driven by situation and novelty."

Thrill seekers often deficiency signals successful their encephalon that trigger fear, according to experts.  (iStock)

Based connected astir 300,000 encephalon scans done astatine Amen Clinics, Dr. Amen noted that successful radical similar Honnold who are "elite utmost performers," the cardinal quality compared to the mean encephalon is "exceptional top-down control."

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"The prefrontal cortex stays online and organized nether stress, allowing precise focus, affectional regularisation and decision-making successful high-risk environments," helium said. "Fear circuits activate conscionable capable to sharpen attraction — but not capable to overwhelm performance."

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Brains similar Honnold’s are besides often "very efficient" successful sensory-motor integration, oregon erstwhile vision, equilibrium and centrifugal readying "work seamlessly together."

"Instead of panic, the encephalon enters a highly regulated, flow-state signifier wherever attraction is narrow, calm and precise," helium said.

In the mean brain, fearfulness circuits thin to activate faster and louder, according to Amen — and the prefrontal cortex "tends to spell offline" nether threat, triggering hesitation, overthinking oregon panic.

"Most radical acquisition a beardown mismatch betwixt perceived hazard and control, which is protective for endurance but limits utmost performance," helium said.

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"For the mean person, precocious adrenaline disrupts accuracy and judgment; for utmost athletes, it organizes the brain," helium said. 

"Their brains are not reckless — they are amended regulated nether stress, whereas the mean encephalon prioritizes information and avoidance."

Fox News Digital’s Jessica Mekles contributed reporting.