TY - GEN
ID - cogprints5035
UR - http://cogprints.org/5035/
A1 - Bracha, Dr. Stefan
A1 - Bracha, Adam S.
A1 - Williams, Dr. Andrew E.
A1 - Ralston, Tyler C.
A1 - Matsukawa, Jennifer M.
Y1 - 2005///
N2 - The Paleolithic-Threat
hypothesis reviewed here posits
that habitual efferent fainting can
be traced back to fear-induced
allelic polymorphisms that were
selected into some genomes of
anatomically, mitochondrially, and
neurally modern humans (Homo
sapiens sapiens) in the Mid-Paleolithic because of the survival
advantage they conferred during
periods of inescapable threat. We
posit that during Mid-Paleolithic
warfare an encounter with ?a
stranger holding a sharp object?
was consistently associated with
threat to life. A heritable hard-
wired or firm-wired (prepotentiated) predisposition to abruptly
increase vagal tone and collapse
flaccidly rather than freeze or
attempt to flee or fight in response
to an approaching sharp object, a
minor injury, or the sight of blood,
polymorphism for the hemodynamically ?paradoxical? flaccid-
immobility in response to these
stimuli may have increased some
non-combatants? chances of survival. This is consistent with the
unusual age and sex pattern of
fear-induced fainting. The Paleolithic-Threat hypothesis also predicts a link to various hypo-androgenic states (e.g. low dehydroxyepiandrosterone-sulfate. We offer
five predictions testable via epidemiological, clinical, and ethological/primatological methods. The
Paleolithic-Threat hypothesis has
implications for research in the
aftermath of man-made disasters,
such as terrorism against civilians,
a traumatic event in which this
hypothesis predicts epidemics of
fear-induced fainting
KW - fainting
KW - human evolution
KW - war
KW - combat
KW - fear-circuitry
KW - androgens
KW - stress-induced disorders
TI - The human fear-circuitry and fear-induced
fainting in healthy individuals
The paleolithic-threat hypothesis
SP - 238
AV - public
EP - 241
ER -