Playing With Fear: Haunted Houses and Recreation

Haunted houses, horror movies, and ghost stories can provoke chilling delights, provided the fear they evoke remains in a “Goldilocks zone” that is neither too terrifying nor too tame. New research connects this sweet spot of recreational fear to a telltale range of heartrate fluctuations, shedding light on the mind-body connection between fear and fun.

For this episode of Under the Cortex, APS’s Charles Blue interviews Marc Malmdorf Andersen and Mathias Clasen with Aarhus University in Denmark.

Read the full news release here.

Video news release on this study.


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