Why are zombies always angry?

This is due to miscommunication between the zombie amygdala and the brain's facial-recognition circuitry. That is, zombies have an issue with their ability to assign emotional context to people, and they respond to this emotional incongruity with anger and rage.

sandiegouniontribune.com - Inside the brain of a zombie. - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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Oh, the horror.

Everywhere you look — in books, on TV, at the movies — zombies are lurching and limping about, making happy meals of people who aren’t quick enough to get out of the way. The public can’t get enough of zombies, which spells opportunity for Bradley Voytek, a soul-patch-wearing fanboy who also is an assistant professor of neuroscience at UC San Diego. Voytek and fellow researcher Timothy Verstynen just published “Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?” In the book, they use the nature and behavior of zombies to explain the human central nervous system. It’s a quick, cheeky read told by the sort of people who toss out punchlines while watching films such as “28 Days Later” and “World War Z.” Go ahead, roll your eyes. But consider this: Voytek and Verstynen were asked to write the book by the esteemed Princeton University Press. And Voytek has been getting speaking invitations from places like Caltech. The “undead” have come alive. Voytek discussed it with U-T San Diego, and here is an edited version of his comments:

Q: I’m fuzzy on the distinction between zombies and vampires. Both are “undead,” and both can mess you up. How are they different?

A: Easy. No one makes sexy zombie books or movies!

Except in rare cases, such as “Blade,” vampires are creatures whose origin is always explained in supernatural terms. Modern zombies are almost always portrayed as having a biological cause — a virus, genetic manipulation, radiation — as opposed to their condition being explained away as some form of magic. Vampires also are almost always shown as incredibly intelligent, cunning, charismatic creatures that can blend in with human culture. They use their guile and subterfuge to feed on human blood without being caught. Zombies are almost always shown to be mindless, aggressive beasts or rage-filled, murderous monsters.

Q: So you’re saying zombies have anger-management issues?

Q: Most zombies shuffle or lumber. Why?

A: The parts of their brains that coordinate movement aren’t working right. Specifically, we think the region called the cerebellum is no longer functioning properly. Movement is an incredibly complicated thing for the brain to coordinate. Think about what goes on when you’re walking on stairs. As you shift one foot off the step, your whole body moves in unison to put the foot back down in another place. There are hundreds of muscles that have to contract and relax in just the right ways for this to happen. This is possible because of the cerebellum. It is relatively small in size — maybe only 15 percent of our overall brain. But it contains fully half the neurons in your brain and is critical for all those fine neural calculations that let us walk and move smoothly.

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Q: Not all zombies are slow. The ones in the movie “28 Days Later” can really haul. What makes that possible?

A: We believe that fast zombies simply haven’t had disruption to their motor system. We call this our “time to resurrection” hypothesis. In the original “Night of the Living Dead,” the time between death and “zombification” could be months or years. In contrast, the zombies in “28 Days Later” and “World War Z” become infected and immediately turn into zombies. The zombie infection simply hasn’t had time to eradicate the brain’s cerebellum and other motor areas yet.

Q: Most zombies have their eyes open when they walk, but are they conscious?

A: This is a classic problem: Are you conscious? Am I? How do we know?

To be honest, neuroscience struggles with consciousness. We don’t have a solid understanding of it. There’s no “consciousness-o-meter” instrument that lets us test whether a person or animal has consciousness. We do know of cases, though, where people can walk around, eyes open, and interact with the world and not be conscious of it. One example is sleepwalking. Sleepwalkers have been known to do incredibly complex actions such as making themselves a snack or going for a walk. Yet they have no conscious recollection of these things later. So while zombies appear to interact with the world, there is no reason to suspect they are consciously aware of their own existence, especially given other converging pieces of evidence, such as their lack of communication, self-preservation and long-term planning.

Q: The brain of a zombie must work on some level. They know they want to eat your flesh, right?

A: Zombies have a “goal” of eating your flesh in the same way a crocodile has a “goal” of eating a zebra or a venus fly trap has a “goal” of eating a fly. Yes, their brains are working on some level because they can still move, see, hear, smell, hunt and eat. But there’s nothing in film that suggests they’re doing long-term goal planning.

Q: The brain needs energy to function. We get energy from food. Why don’t zombies just go to 7-Eleven instead of eating people?

A: Zombies have a particular level of fury toward humans, which makes us their prime mealtime targets. This is due to miscommunication between the zombie amygdala and the brain’s facial-recognition circuitry. That is, zombies have an issue with their ability to assign emotional context to people, and they respond to this emotional incongruity with anger and rage.

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Think about how we recognize the people around us, especially loved ones. While there are many cues (voice, posture, height), humans pay particular attention to faces. The parts of our brains that recognize faces communicate with our amygdala. So when we see a loved one, the facial-recognition parts of our brains say, “Hey! That’s my wife!” The amygdala is also supposed to say, “Yes! And I love her.”

Q: That doesn’t happen with hungry zombies. They just say, “Pass the catsup,” right?

A: ... or some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Q: The recent season premiere of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” drew 17.3 million viewers. Why do people dig zombies so much?

A: Dig! Ha. I have to admit that I was into zombies before they were mainstream, back when they were still underground. (Can you put a rimshot into the article for me?) But seriously, there have been numerous innovations on the genre across all forms of media. “The Walking Dead” has dominated TV and comics, and video games such as “The Last of Us” have really made incredible use of cinematography and interactive storytelling to create an immersive zombie apocalypse. In the end, the zombie genre is an excellent blank slate upon which a writer can cast any number of big, unfathomable societal and psychological fears or concerns. Genetic modification? Zombies. Atomic weapons and radiation? Zombies. Class warfare? Zombies. Racism? Zombies. Biological experimentation? Zombies. Rampant consumerism? Zombies.

Q: Do you think there’s a good chance your obituary will read, “Voytek was killed by murderous, unstoppable zombies”?

A: Honestly, I’d probably deserve it given how vocal I am in my anti-zombie smear campaigning. But let’s face it: If it gets to that point, I don’t think there would be a lot of folks left who care too much about writing obituaries about obscure scientists. There would be bigger issues in the news, I think!

sandiegouniontribune.com - Inside the brain of a zombie. - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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