When in Danger, Humans are Like a Deer in Headlights

The defensive, protective reaction of automatically freezing when encountering a threat has long helped animals to avoid being noticed by a potential predator. A new study published in the journal Psychophysiology finds that human beings react much the same way in response to pictures suggesting a threat.

According to the publisher’s press release about the study:

Forty-eight male volunteers stood barefoot on a stabilometric platform, to measure balance and body sway, and viewed twenty-four pictures from three different categories. They were: pleasant (sports), neutral (objects), and unpleasant (injured or mutilated humans). Posturographic and electrocardiographic recordings were collected. The author found a significant reduction in body sway along with increased muscle stiffness following the unpleasant/mutilation block of pictures compared to the neutral pictures. The number of heartbeats per minute was also lower after viewing the mutilation pictures than after looking at the others. “This pattern resembles the ‘freezing’ and ‘fear bradycardia’ seen in many species when confronted with threatening stimuli, mediated by neural circuits that promote defensive survival,” author Eliane Volchan explains.

For some clients and counsellors working from particular therapeutic traditions (e.g., cognitive therapy) on psychological distress such as anxiety, empirical data on natural stress reactions such as this ‘deer in the headlights’ response may be useful. In some instances, knowing that a particular type of reaction is a built-in psychophysiological response may help make it easier to manage.

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