Culture
Creeped Out? Listening to Some Bird Calls Might Help
A new study suggests that auditory signs of life can ease discomfort in hair-raising places.
When you’re hightailing it down a darkened city block, weaving between streetlights, you might feel your heart pound in your throat, your face start to flush, or a tingle shoot down your spine. Eerie sounds—the startling rustle of a plastic bag, or the lonely wail of a far-away siren—only add to an elaborate worst-case scenario that’s unfolding, unconsciously, in your body.
Even if you know, rationally, that there’s no need to be unusually vigilant, your autonomic nervous system—the fear center—can steer you towards panic.