People with disfigurements would probably rather not have strangers staring relentlessly at them. And many starers surely wish they could stop. But experts believe it's a Herculean effort to control such gaping, because it’s triggered not by insensitivity but by instinct.

People become transfixed due to the work of the amygdala, a primitive part of the brain evolved to sort faces into "safe" or "potentially unsafe" categories. When the amygdala cannot process a face that doesn't fit any it has previously encountered, it simply freezes like a computer unable to process a command. Scientists say that regaining composure requires serious conscious effort.

But with practice, you can regain control of your brain, according to neuropsychiatrist Joshua Freedman at UCLA. And the same technique could help handle other involuntary emotions such as anger and fear.

The frozen state that starers find themselves in has been called the "hijacking of the amygdala" by psychologist Daniel Goleman, author of the best seller, Emotional Intelligence.

Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux of New York University, has shown that rats experience a similar kind of involuntary behavior. This suggests the behavior is a primitive one that goes way back into our evolutionary past and is shared by other species.

"Because the regions of the brain that are involved in voluntary control have little connectivity with areas like the amygdala involved in certain involuntary primitive emotions, those emotions are very hard to control," LeDoux wrote in an e-mail.

So, what can you do to stop your primitive brain from embarrassing you in public?

One theory is that the key may lie in the cortex. When we see someone approach, the thalamus directs the visual impulse to the visual cortex for processing. The cortex "thinks" about the impulse and makes sense of it: "Mom!" it concludes, for example. That message then shoots to the amygdala where a cascade of peptides and hormones are released that creates emotion (love, say) and spur your reaction (smile, hug, etc.).

Previous research has shown that when we encounter something that may represent danger, however, the thalamus bypasses the thinking cortex and goes straight to the primitive amygdala to make the call: Is this safe or potentially dangerous? If the visual image fits no known pattern, the amygdala detains the image for further questioning, and, we stare.

When this occurs, cortical thinking shuts down, more or less strong-armed by the amygdala trying to fulfill its role as storm trooper against potential danger. Fixating on something out of the ordinary can save our lives, but it can also compel unthinkable behavior like gaping at someone with a deformity.

When we stand thus riveted, our brain is flooded with electro-chemicals, but those chemicals do not persist, according to Freedman. They will dissipate in three to six seconds. Still, that’s an agonizing chunk of time to remain in visual lockdown. In the grip of that span, Freedman believes we can vanquish the pull of the primitive by rousing the analytical part of our brain — the cortex.

The cortex performs tasks including math, language, complex visual or auditory processing, and other "high order" thinking. If we consciously assign the cortex to one of those tasks, like a simple math problem such as adding up the digits in your phone number, the amygdala loses its grip. We are then free to smile or nod to acknowledge the person’s presence, look her in the eye, extend our hand or engage in conversation.

If eye contact proves too difficult due to the fear that the amygdala will seize the tower again, look at the bridge of the person’s nose, advises James Partridge, chief executive of Changing Faces, a non-profit in Britain that challenges the prejudices surrounding facial disfigurement.

Unfortunately, this is not a technique we can pull off on the fly. We've got to practice it.

"You have to become adept at observing yourself, both your external behavior and your internal body conditions," LeDoux said. "When you feel an emotion swelling up, that's when you have to do your best to put on the brakes. It's not impossible. Different cultures express emotions to different degrees. In Eastern cultures, for example, people learn to suppress the external signs of emotion to a greater extent than in the Western world. So it can be done."

This cortical exit strategy also works to conquer other emotions that cause the amygdala to lay siege to our behavior, such as anger and fear. So next time your boss provokes you, try taming your anger with algebra.

DeAnne Musolf is co-author of Faster, Better, Stronger, a book on the biology of fitness.

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Image: Flickr/cvogle