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The world's best -

Alex Honnold is the best free solo climber in the world.

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Free solo -

Free solo is the art of climbing without any ropes or protective gear to prevent falling.

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Making the impossible possible -

In his lifetime, Alex Honnold has completed multiple climbs that were thought to be humanly impossible. Pictured here is El Capitan, a 3000 ft (915 m) sheer cliff in Yosemite National Park, which Honnold climbed rope-free in 2018.

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Challenging doesn't begin to describe it - They were considered impossible not only because of the physical challenge, but also because of the mental one.

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No time for doubts -

Honnold himself admits that he is not the strongest climber in the world. The difficult part is staying calm and not letting a moment of doubt or hesitation send you to your death.

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Life in his hands -

Most of his climbing adventures last for several hours. That means he spends hours clinging to a wall, when a single fingertip in the wrong place could end his life.

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Why? -

This caused many people to question how it was possible to accomplish this and why someone would even want to try.

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Dr. Jane Joseph -

One of those people was Dr. Jane Joseph, a professor of Neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina.

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Neural activity -

Dr. Joseph and her team use functional magnetic resonance imaging to track neural activity in the brain.

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Response to stimuli -

She released a study 10 years earlier that showed how certain types of people respond to extreme stimulation.

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Test groups -

The study involved two test groups, one with low sensation seeking personalities and one with high sensation seeking personalities.

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Monitoring experiment - They monitored their brain activity while showing them a range of pictures. Some were inoffensive, while others were graphically violent or sexual.

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The results -

The results showed that the low sensation seekers had a strong emotional reaction to the graphic images, but the high sensation seekers did not.

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Interesting findings -

In addition to their lack of emotional response, the high sensation seekers also responded in a section of the brain that is usually active during addictive behavior. For example, while craving cigarettes.

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Risk takers -

Dr. Joseph and her team concluded that high sensation seekers are more likely to seek out risky and thrilling activities, and are less likely to be able to control their desire to do so even when it may be dangerous or destructive.

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What about Alex Honnold? -

No doubt the scientific community were interested to see what the results would be when Alex Honnold was tested.

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"No Big Deal" -

Honnold's apparent nonchalance when discussing his dizzying ascents has earned him the nickname Alex "No Big Deal" Honnold.

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Reluctance -

He had previously said that he wasn't interested in having his brain examined in case it revealed that something was wrong.

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Joseph & Honnold -

He changed his mind in 2016 and flew out to meet Dr. Joseph. He was joined by the film crew who were making the documentary 'Free Solo', which would win an Oscar in 2019.

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Fear in focus - When they put Honnold under the microscope, they were watching his amygdala. This is the section of the brain that responds to fear.

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A familiar scene -

Similar to her previous study, Dr. Joseph showed Honnold a series of mundane photos as well as a series of disturbing photos of mutilated bodies and erotic images.

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Business as usual -

Dr. Joseph noted that most people at least describe the experience as unpleasant, but Honnold emerged unfazed. He even said, “What? Was that supposed to do something for me?"

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Physiological assessment -

After the brain scan, he completed a physiological assessment to determine his tendency towards risky behavior.

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Conclusions -

The conclusion was that Honnold was twice as thrill-seeking as the average person, and 20% more thrill-seeking than the average thrill seeker.

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Conclusions -

His amygdala showed almost no response to the graphic images, suggesting that he would need a much, much bigger threat to make him feel fear. No surprises there.

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Conclusions - Honnold's results would suggest that he is an adrenaline junkie who may have a destructive level of thrill-seeking behavior, possibly even a tendency towards addiction. But one thing was different about him.

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Conclusions - Despite all those wild traits, he scored very highly in conscientiousness. This means that he is extremely careful and organized, characteristics somewhat at odds with his desire to dangle from clifftops by his fingertips.

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His process - Those who know his process know that he plans his big climbs for months, sometimes years. He practices them using safety gear dozens or even hundreds of times.

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His process -

He memorizes every movement and every finger hold he'll need to find. He visualizes them and deals with the fear of death while he's on the ground. Once he feels ready, he attempts it without ropes. His meticulous preparation leaves him (relatively) free of worries when he begins his ascent.

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The perfect risk-taker -

It seems that these his desire to take risks combined with his conscientiousness create the perfect mindset to take on impossible challenges and complete them with ease.

See also: The triumph and tragedy that is Mount Everest

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