Big Wave Surfers and Their Unique Brain Function

It's big wave season on the North Shore, which means all the chargers have dusted off their guns and are frothing for the next XXL swell. For those of us who stay in the double-overhead and smaller range, it can be difficult to fully understand the mentality of big wave surfers. We admire them and enjoy watching them ride huge waves, but personally don't want anything to do with the ocean once it hits the 10-foot+ range.

I have always wondered what it is that makes people enjoy big waves—whether it's something they are born with, or something that is developed through years of incremental progression. And what is it in their brains that allows them to sit with the fear, paddle out anyway, and then turn and go when a huge set darkens the horizon? Recently, Dr. Cliff Kapono (who charges Peahi in his own right) reviewed a scientific study that looked at the brain function of big wave surfers and non-big wave surfers. The study found some interesting differences between those of us who send it when the buoys get crazy and those who enjoy more manageable waves. To help us decipher all the data, Hawaiian South Shore's resident big wave authority Matt Rode explains the study in layman's terms.

The Science of Extreme Athletes

There has been an interesting movement in the past few years of looking at the brain function and chemistry of extreme athletes across a variety of sports and documenting the anomalies that are correlated with high-risk athletic pursuits (and that presumably motivate this behavior and enable athletes to excel at it). One of the most widely publicized was the minimal function in the amygdala of Free Solo star and rock climbing legend Alex Honnold, which reduces his fear response (and theoretically enables him to remain calm while climbing without ropes thousands of feet above the ground).

The study of big wave surfer brain function that Cliff discusses is of particular interest to me, since I've spent a large part of my life chasing big waves around the world and surfing them here at home on Oahu. I've had the chance to surf with pretty much all of the past two generation's best big wave surfers, and watching their approach I've always assumed that their brains work a bit differently than the normal surfer. This study confirms that (albeit in limited fashion, due to the limits of the research).

The Yale Study on Big Wave Surfer Brain Function

Mary Showstark and her team at the Yale School of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine, University of Washington, and Red Bull undertook the study, then published their findings in the Journal of Frontiers in Psychology in a paper titled "Comparison of hemodynamic brain responses between big wave surfers and non-big wave surfers during affective image presentation." This study used two experiments to evaluate any differences between the brain function of big wave surfers and non-big wave surfers.

Self-Reported Data: Similar on Paper

The first data set was collected through a series of standardized psychological questionnaires that measure fear, discrete emotional responses, positive and negative emotions, and sensation seeking. Interestingly, the responses provided by big wave surfers and non-big wave surfers were very similar, with most non-big wave surfers self-reporting a similar level of sensation seeking and capacity to process fear and emotions as big wave surfers. However, the second experiment, which directly studied brain function, indicates that this self-reported data set is not actually accurate. In other words, non-big wave surfers may not be as similar to big wave surfers as their answers indicate.

Inside the MRI: Testing Brain Response

The second test was performed on 13 big wave surfers and 10 non-big wave surfers. These participants were placed in MRI machines and their brain function was observed as they were shown a number of images from the International Affective Picture System, which is basically a standardized set of photos used to elicit emotional responses for the purpose of studies such as this. (Incidentally, two of the participants were disqualified. One of them was claustrophobic and couldn't handle being in the MRI machine, while the other one fell asleep in there. We can only guess which group each of these participants was from!)

The Four Categories of Images

While the surfers were in the MRI machines, they were shown images from four different categories. The first was high arousal positive images, which are basically those that show exciting but pleasant scenes. The second set of images were high arousal negative, which depict threatening or disturbing scenes. The third set included low arousal positive images—basically calm, pleasant images. Finally, the fourth set included low arousal negative images—those that showed unpleasant but non-threatening scenes. While these images were shown to the participants, the scientists observed their brain function through the MRI readings.

Key Findings: How Big Wave Surfers Process Threats

The study resulted in very interesting results, and a marked difference in the way that big wave surfers and non-big wave surfers respond to negative and threatening stimuli. The big wave surfer cohort showed stronger activation of the insula, visual cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, and periaqueductal gray. These areas are associated with risk evaluation, threat detection, and rapid defense response. In other words, it appeared that big wave surfers had more efficient responses to threatening stimuli, which theoretically allows them to identify, prepare for, and deal with threatening situations.

The non-big wave surfers, on the other hand, showed strong activation in the hypothalamus, which is a part of the brain related to stress planning and the early stages of the fight-or-flight response. In short, their brains appeared to be less equipped to efficiently deal with threats, but instead defaulted to a high-stress, panicked response.

What the Study Doesn't Answer

While these results were interesting, they weren't exactly surprising. One would naturally assume that athletes who regularly deal with threatening, dangerous conditions and situations would be better equipped to do so than those who don't. But what the study doesn't look at is whether this enhanced ability to deal with and plan for threatening situations is a result of having done so on a regular basis for years, or if it's the reason that big wave surfers seek out larger waves and more dangerous ocean conditions to begin with (perhaps because they require a greater amount of stimulation to find the same level of stoke, due to the fact that they remain calmer and more focused during "threatening" situations). The study also fails to look at how these results mirror (or fail to mirror) the brain function of extreme athletes in other sports (although one might assume that the findings would be similar).

Photo credits: Surfline

The Joy of Surfing at Any Size

Regardless of the results, the fact remains that some of us love big waves and others don't—it's really just a matter of personal preference, and all types of surfing are fun with the right conditions and equipment. Personally, I love just about every type of surfing, from logging one-footers to body whomping shore break and charging huge outer reefs. Anything that gets me in the water and riding waves makes me happy, and that's the whole point of surfing!

For more on the science of surfing and how it affects the body, check out our article where Dr. Cliff Kapono and Matt Rode discuss the cardiac effects of big wave surfing. And if you're gearing up for bigger waves this season, make sure you have the right equipment—a reliable big wave leash can make all the difference when the swells get serious.