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Psychology of Lost and the role of emotion

There can be no question that becoming lost is normally accompanied by high emotional arousal, and almost every lost person has confessed to having been upset during their ordeal. All emotional experience is part mental or cognitive and part physiological. The physiological component involves certain glandular secretions (such as sweaty palms or a rush of adrenalin) as well as stimulation of a part of the brain called the limbic system. It is this latter structure where the physiological and cognitive reactions appear to interact. 

When arousal is intense, thoughts tend to scatter in irrelevant directions, making the person unable to concentrate on solving even simple problems. Also, too much arousal can reduce the number of environmental cues the person can perceive, thus interfering with the recognition of familiar objects, people, or places.Fear, of course, is a specific type of emotional reaction, having effects beyond those of general physiological arousal. Fear stimulates a heightened concern for self-preservation, mobilizing the body for flight through the secretion of adrenalin and increased blood supply to the legs. It's no wonder, therefore, that the lost person's impulse is to move rather than stay put — this is exactly what his/her body is telling him/her to do. Fear — like general arousal — interferes with higher mental functioning, such as concentration and problem solving, and may cause a regression to more “primitive” modes of thought. 

From: K. A. Hill (1998), Lost Person Behavior. Ottawa, Canada: National SAR Secretariat.