In a latest research conducted by Columbia University, it is found that the fear of spiders among humans is rooted to the DNA and not psyche. In the new research, scientists revealed that humans have the ability to spot these spiders immediately and instantly, which explains that this phobia called “Arachnophobia,” is wired to DNA.
In fact, according to these researchers, ability of humans to spot spiders immediately and urgently led to evolutionary advantage. Spiders were said to be a major cause of survival threat to humans and so, the theory of research explains evolutionary benefit.
Humans’ evolution through fear of spiders
According to a researcher, Joshua New of University of Columbia, humans were facing significant, unpredictable and perennial risk in their ancestral surroundings, in relation to the highly poisonous and life-threatening spiders. Even if these spiders did not prove fatal, the bite of black widow spider during the ancestral world compelled a human to remain incapacitated at a stretch of few days or may be weeks. This in turn left them exposed to dangerous situations as well.
In fact, the researchers said that black widows were the most commonly found dangerous spiders in the ancestral world of Africa. These spiders were dark, small and had the ability to hide in the nook. Their bite could result in muscle spasms, but rarely fatal too.
The research through experiment
Joshua New along with the colleagues experimented to find out the rapidness of people to spot the spider, even when they were also dealing with various other distracting visual stimuli. The researchers asked 252 people to focus on their computers, which contained a range of data and abstract shapes. When these images induced fear or a feeling of disgust among people, their ability to spot these spiders reached higher, making them highly responsive to spiders, despite their distorted shapes.
