There’s no question that roller coasters are a big draw at theme parks. If you’ve ridden one before, you’re probably familiar with the anticipation, excitement, and resulting rush that you get from these types of rides. Have you ever wondered just what it is that makes strapping in and whizzing around so satisfying? Here’s a look at what your brain goes through on those thrill rides.
The stages of a thrill
Professor Brendan Walker, a self-proclaimed “Thrill Engineer” has identified five distinct stages that people go through when they have a thrilling experience. For something to be fully thrilling, it must include all five of these steps.
First, the participant imagines the thrill. They think about what it will be like to experience the roller coaster. Perhaps they’ll watch the coaster from afar, read about it in a guide book, or watch rider videos of the attraction online. During this stage, you’re thinking ahead about what the experience will be like when you finally get on board. Theme park marketing ensures that you have plenty of opportunities to imagine the thrills that lay ahead.
The second stage is approaching the thrill. This is typically achieved in the queue – another place where theme parks are adept at presenting the experience properly. As you wind through the line, you’ll typically see a progressive series of scenes that set up the thrill. Approaching Expedition Everest, for example, you’ll find settings that transport you to Nepal, then introduce you to the mountain, and finally set the stage for the frightening Yeti attacks to come.
Third is committing to the experience. This is the stage where you pass the point of no return, climbing into the seat and strapping in for the ride. Those few moments before you take off where you lose your ability to back out of the thrill are an important part of the overall process.
The fourth stage is the most important – here you’re actually experiencing the attraction. Despite all the anticipation, this step usually lasts for only a few minutes.
Finally, you enter the fifth stage of the thrill, which is celebrating. You’re enjoying the afterglow effect that comes with surviving the experience and walking away with a sense of achievement and a story to tell.
Your amygdala on a thrill ride
The amygdala is the all-important part of the brain that assesses danger. It determines whether you’’ fight or submit, fight or flee. If the amygdala senses danger, it passes that along to the hypothalamus which will trigger your adrenal glands to start pumping adrenaline into the body.
Though you’re not in much real danger on a thrill ride, you generally want to trick your amygdala into thinking that you are. This will cause those all-important hormones to start pumping, ultimately giving you the feeling of excitement and satisfaction that you get from the roller coaster.
The all-important adrenaline rush
Adrenaline is the first hormone to flood your body when you’re approaching a thrill. Adrenaline is produced in the adrenal glands. These glands convert tyrosine into dopamine. When the dopamine is oxygenated, it becomes noradrenaline which in turn converts into adrenaline.
The adrenaline increases your heart rate and respiration, inhibits insulin production and stimulates the body to synthesize sugar and fat so you’re essentially pumped up and ready to battle the danger or run away at lightning speed. Adrenaline will also intensify your feelings, heighten your senses, and even dim your sense of pain. All of this creates a more immersive and thrilling roller coaster experience.
Your brain on dopamine
Dopamine is another major player in the thrill experience. Dopamine is known as the “reward drug.” It gives you a rush of pleasure after a satisfying experience. Your neurons will begin firing faster as your brain produces dopamine and delivers it to various areas during that pleasurable afterglow stage when you’re stepping off the roller coaster and realizing you survived.
There are many different ways to trigger a dose of dopamine. Activities as innocent as food and exercise can give you some of the reward drug. Gambling, drugs, and other addictions can boost your dopamine levels as well. Thrill rides fall somewhere around the middle of the spectrum. While they’re not particularly hazardous, they’re also not an everyday experience like your morning jog.
A brain on dopamine is a happy brain, which is why thrill rides can be so satisfying. Even people who don’t enjoy the ride itself will often feel satisfied afterward because they get their dopamine dose from the sheer pleasure of getting through the experience and coming out the other side.
Why people do it again
There’s no question that some people are more “addicted” to roller coasters than others. Thrill seekers who go after the big rushes again and again may do so because their dopamine receptors function a bit differently. Recent research has shown that people who are known as “thrill seekers” are often less able to regulate dopamine levels in the brain. The dopamine neurons fire faster in these individuals and are not regulated as strictly. This gives them a bigger hit from each thrill, encouraging them to seek out these types of experiences more often.
Now that you have a better understanding of how thrills are produced, you can maximize your own experiences by making sure you take time to experience every step of the thrill process. From early anticipation to the final dopamine rush, there’s plenty to look forward to on thrill rides.
