As NC students flock to amusement parks such as Six Flags Over Georgia to experience thrills and excitement during weekends, school breaks and summer vacation, they may find it interesting to know how the coasters they enjoy impact their brains. For decades, people all around the globe have appreciated the thrilling mechanical monsters known as roller coasters. Britannica defines roller coasters as elevated railway tracks with steep inclines and descents, sharp curves and sudden changes in speed and direction designed to thrill their riders. Humans remain continually drawn to these iconic thrill attractions, partially because of the endorphins and psychological reaction these rides bring forth. The psychological reaction these rides cause allows for an extremely enjoyable and exciting ride experience, while allowing roller coaster manufacturers to specifically create designs based on human brain chemistry. This topic proves important for NC students because a significant proportion of students enjoy riding roller coasters, meaning that learning why they remain drawn to these coasters can serve as useful information in furthering their understanding of their brains.
The first recorded roller coasters emerged as a form of ice sledding in Russia in the 15th century. Although the Russian design remains thoroughly different from the roller coasters we know today, the early thrill rides set a foundation for the attractions that occupy modern-day theme parks. Throughout the years, the structure of these mechanical thrillers has changed significantly and roller coaster creation has become a major industry consisting of numerous distinct manufacturers, notably including Bolliger and Mabillard, Intemin and Stan and Sandy (S&S). For a significant amount of time, manufacturers composed roller coasters predominantly out of wood for the structure and steel or metal for the track. However, a recent shift has occurred, bringing the majority of coasters to boast structures composed mainly of steel. This shift proves extremely important because it allows the rides to run faster, stand taller and overall provide an increasingly thrilling experience to riders. Year after year, the roller coaster industry continues to grow and develop with innovations arising constantly to thrill riders all across the globe. To maintain this upward trend of growth and improvement within the industry, every year, Amusement Today delivers several awards to exemplary roller coasters and theme parks, with various groups releasing yearly rankings of the attractions.
Numerous manufacturers have taken the popularity of these thrill rides as an opportunity to attempt to break records and defy previous notions of the physically impossible. Notable record-breaking coasters include the recently demolished Kingda Ka at Cedar Point, serving as the tallest roller coaster in the world, and Fury 325 at Carowinds, winning the award for best steel coaster in the world. These records continue to break every year, leaving roller coaster designers to constantly work to improve and enlarge their creations. As a result of these ever-changing developments, multitudes of people stand as members of a community of roller coaster fans worldwide. These coaster enthusiasts travel specifically to visit various roller coasters throughout global theme parks and share online forums, videos and podcasts to discuss the rides they love and enjoy. Coasters remain not only a way to experience a fun and exciting momentary thrill, but also allow for opportunities to forge connections with people who hold similar interests and passions.
A key factor of roller coasters’ popularity includes their accessibility to people throughout the world, with the vast majority of countries and states containing several amusement parks. Additionally, numerous theme parks remain extremely budget-friendly and provide easy fun for families and thrill seekers of all ages. Numerous kid-friendly roller coasters exist as a way to ease children into the thrill ride experience without leaving them feeling afraid or overwhelmed. The majority of theme parks offer attractions for visitors of all ages to allow for an all-inclusive day of fun.
Roller coasters remain appealing to thrill seekers because they impart a significant psychological reaction in the minds of riders, which brings people to ride them repeatedly. The psychological process inhibited by roller coasters begins with feelings of fear and anticipation due to chemicals, including glutamine, in the amygdala. Glutamine serves as the primary chemical of fear within the human brain, and the release of it brings people to feel anxious or on edge. Riders generally feel this emotion while waiting in line, boarding the ride and rising the first lift hill of the ride. Next, as riders descend quickly from the first drop, they typically experience a surge of adrenaline and stress hormones, causing them to feel excited and exhibit a raised heart rate.
“I love roller coasters because they give me a fun and entertaining experience that allows me to just enjoy living in the moment. Depending on the coaster, I often enjoy the thrill, but sometimes feel fearful and nervous because of the extreme heights. My favorite roller coaster element is the sudden increase of speed you feel during the launch in launch coasters because of how exhilarating it is to go so fast with the wind blowing in your face,” sophomore Katelyn McKoon said.
Throughout the ride, specifically during moments of airtime, riders feel a rush of endorphins and experience a euphoric feeling, bringing them to feel joyful and exhilarated. Lastly, riders experience a wave of relief as the ride comes to a close, bringing people to feel a sense of joy and fulfillment. This emotional response can become especially accentuated in cases of people with fears of roller coasters because it brings people to feel that they have overcome a major fear, which in turn amplifies the joy response. Human brains view the sensation roller coasters release as a form of positive stress, which holds similar features to the type of stress humans normally feel, but feels beneficial to the brain.
Roller coaster engineers typically work to channel and accentuate these aspects in their designs by including specific aspects intended to trigger these emotional responses in riders. The engineers of major roller coasters consistently integrate human psychology into their designs to provide a thrilling and exciting ride for all. Various ride aspects used by engineers include drops to fill riders with adrenaline, loops to provide a sense of weightlessness, corkscrews to impart G-forces on riders and vertical lift hills to build suspense. These factors all work together to provide riders with a strong emotional reaction, deriving from actual chemical reactions triggered in their brains. As a result of these reactions, people usually want to ride coasters over and over again, which keeps the theme park and roller coaster design industry booming.
“Enjoying roller coasters is linked to sensation seeking—the tendency to enjoy varied, novel and intense physical experiences such as rock climbing and parachute jumping. Perhaps the draw of roller coasters is the enjoyment of the visceral sensation of fear itself, much like watching a horror movie. Physical signs of fear, such as a pounding heart, faster breathing and an energy boost caused by the release of glucose are known collectively as the ‘fight or flight response’,” Keele University senior psychology lecturer Richard Stevens said.
Roller coasters remain a staple within amusement parks, fairs and tourist attraction spots because of their unique ability to instill a strong emotional reaction in riders, simultaneously satisfying one’s craving for excitement and inciting them to want to ride again. The utilization of human psychology and brain chemistry within the design of these rides helps to keep riders on the edge of their seats. Coasters allow people to experience intense physical and psychological reactions, which stimulate their bodies and minds to provide an extremely fun coaster-riding experience.
“I feel like my job is terrorizing people. As animals, we have a really strong relationship with thrill. In evolutionary terms, thrill has evolved as a mechanism to reward the persistence of life. To feel thrilled is to feel truly alive. In a world where we don’t feel thrilled, we feel flat, we don’t feel excited. So, part of the appeal of theme parks and rollercoasters is replacing those mechanisms that used to naturally exist.
But whereas in the wild, we truly were faced with real dangers, the job of a theme park is to create the perception of danger,” Alton Towers thrill engineer Brendan Walker said.
Roller coasters serve as mechanical wonders that continue to delight and thrill people in various amusement parks and fairs throughout the world. Existing in a variety of different forms, coasters hold the ability to appeal to riders with different preferences and comfort levels, creating an inclusive and fun experience to please all. The neurochemical reactions in which these coasters inhibit cause the ride experience to feel simultaneously terrifying and terrific, allowing for an amazing experience to cherish and create memories with.
