Theoretical models suggest that under conditions of imminent danger, ‘reactive fear circuits’ quickly steer the organism to escape from threat (1-7). When the organism is given time to contemplate the despairing nature of the threat, ‘cognitive circuitry’ involved in decision flexibility direct the organism to conscious strategic avoidance. Adjacent to these theories is the idea that fear results in fast reactions mediated by the hypothalamus and periaqueductal gray, while sustained fear is a model for anxiety and mediated by amygdala-hippocampal-frontal circuits (8). We wanted to ask the question of whether individual differences in trait anxiety selectively evoke ativity in the ‘cognitive fear’ circutry, but not the ‘reactive fear’ circuitry. Human subjects (N=24) with high trait anxiety showed no impairment in their decision to escape fast attacking threat. However, early flight in high trait anxiety was observed in the slow attack conditions suggesting anxiety only impairs escape decisions when the subject has time to contemplate the escape choice. Functional magnetic imaging findings supported our behavioral results by showing that during fast escape choices, trait anxiety did not correlate with any brain structures, however, for slow escape choices, increased activity was observed in the amygdala, hippocampus, and insula, regions associated with conscious fear states. These findings suggest that when reactive fear circuits and behaviors are evoked, anxiety plays little or no role in adaptive escape.