Fear response. Computer artwork of how the human brain reacts to a frightening stimulus, in this case the sighting of a snake. Signals travel from the eyes to the thalamus, a relay station between the senses and the cortex. The thalamus passes the signal to two different areas of the brain, the amygdala (purple) and the occipital lobe (blue). The amygdala is a primitive area of the brain that recognises danger and reacts quickly to ready the body for fight or flight. The occipital lobe processes visual information and passes the information on to the hippocampus, which is involved in memory and learning and produces a more considered response.