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American professional rock climber Alex Honnold raised the bar on a recent urban climb in Taiwan.
The daredevil athlete Taipei 101 skyscraper on January 25th, without ropes or protective equipment. As previously reported by Fox News Digital, the event was livestreamed on Netflix.
Honnold reached the top of the 101-story steel building in just 1 hour and 31 minutes, waving his arms in celebration at the top. Despite the wind, the view was “amazing,” he later said.
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Mr. Honnold’s conquests as a mountaineer include major mountain ranges throughout 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’s inside our bodies. Honnold’s brain By scanning it, he was able to attempt such a terrifying climb.
American rock climber Alex Honnold (photo taken on January 25, 2026). He reached the top of the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan, successfully free-soloing up the landmark skyscraper without ropes or safety equipment. (Corey Rich for Netflix, AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
According to the Nautilus report, the doctor was one of the first to perform fMRI scans (functional magnetic resonance imaging) on ”sensory seekers.”
Joseph and a team of engineers discovered that Honnold’s amygdala showed little activity in response to normally triggering images. fear and stress response.
“Neuroscientists found no activity anywhere in the fear center of Honnold’s brain,” the report states.
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The researchers flipped the experiment and introduced a reward task in which Honnold could win a prize. Typically, the amygdala and other brain structures in control subjects “look like a lit up Christmas tree,” Joseph said.
But in Honnold’s case, he was “black and white and lifeless.” Activity was shown only in areas that process visual input, confirming that he was awake and looking at the screen.
On January 25, 2026, in Taipei, a man inside the building is seen recording Honnold climbing the Taipei 101 building without any ropes or safety equipment. (I-Hwa Cheng/AFP via Getty Images)
“There’s not much going on in my brain,” Honnold told Joseph. “It doesn’t do anything.”
Dr. Daniel AmenThe California-based psychiatrist who founded the Amen Clinic did not scan Honnold’s brain, but he is an expert in brain imaging.
Brain scans of other extreme athletes and adrenaline junkies often show reduced baseline activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in fear inhibition, impulse control and risk assessment, Amen said.
“Their brains are less easily ‘scared’ and are more driven by challenge and novelty.”
According to Amen, reward and motivation circuits, or dopamine pathways, are strongly activated in these people.
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“That is, high stimulation feels normal or even necessary for them to feel engaged,” he said. “Some people show reduced amygdala reactivity, so situations that would trigger fear in most people don’t produce the same alarm response.”
He added: “In short, their brains became less ‘scared’ and more driven.” Challenge and newness.”
Experts say thrill-seekers often lack the brain signals that trigger fear. (St. Petersburg)
Based on about 300,000 brain scans conducted at the Amen Clinic, Dr. Amen pointed out that the main difference between the average brain and the average brain of people like Honnold, who are “elite extreme performers,” is “superior top-down control.”
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“The prefrontal cortex remains online and organized under stress, allowing for precise focus, emotional control, and decision-making even in high-risk environments,” he said. “Fear circuits are activated enough to increase attention, but not so much that they overwhelm performance.”
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Brains like Honnold’s are often “highly efficient” at integrating sensory and motor functions. vision, balance and motor planning “work together seamlessly.”
“Rather than panic, the brain enters into a highly controlled pattern of flow states, where attention is narrow, calm, and precise,” he says.
In the average brain, Amen says, fear circuits tend to fire faster and louder, and when threatened, the prefrontal cortex tends to go “offline,” causing hesitation, overthinking, and panic.
“Most people experience a strong mismatch between perceived risk and control, which is protective but limiting for survival. extreme performance” he said.
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“For the average person, too much adrenaline disrupts accuracy and judgment, but for extreme athletes, it organizes the brain,” he says.
“Their brains are not reckless; they are better controlled under stress, whereas the average brain prioritizes safety and avoidance.”
Fox News Digital’s Jessica Mekles contributed reporting.
