Fear Response to Spiders in Australians

Do Australians show a reduced fear response to spiders as a result of increased exposure to spiders while growing up?

It is generally expected that continuous interactions between species result in reduced fear during the interactions between the two species. In this case, human-reptile interactions lasting for a long period of time is expected to yield reduced fear when humans encounter such reptiles. Reptiles such as spiders and snakes can elicit great amount of fear considering the fact that such species are largely venomous and can cause lifetime injuries and even death to humans in an event of an attack (Ceriaco 2012; Alves et al. 2012).

While studies have established that among the same species such as spiders and snakes, there are those which are not venomous. However, since distinguishing the venomous from the non-venomous species is difficult, unless if the person is a specialist in the field, people will generally react with fear when encountering these reptiles. The flight or fight response will be triggered almost in every encounter with the reptiles (Schlegel and Rupf 2010). However, since it is generally expected that continuous exposure to the reptiles may lead to decreased fear or flight response, it becomes prudent to test whether this assertion is true.

Australia is a land of thousands of species of spiders with a variety of venom levels from one species to the other. These spiders coexist with humans in homes, fields while some are in forests among other places. It is therefore common occurrence for Australians to encounter these spiders and thus necessitates the examination of fear levels exhibited by humans when interacting with the spiders (Janavcova et al. 2019). However, if strangers such as British encounter spiders in Australia and relying on the flight or fight response, they are likely to react with fear towards the spiders and even kill them to avoid being harmed.

Imaging methods (fMRI)

To test the hypothesis of the study, fMRI imaging method will be used. Functional imaging resonance imaging measures the brain activity through detection of changes in blood flow. This technique is based on the fact that neuronal activation is coupled with cerebral blood flow. Therefore, an exposure to a fear inducing image will result in neuron activation and increased cerebral blood flow. This will then be used to measure the level of fear due to the respective intensity of blood flow. Briton and Australian participants will be subjected to fMRI to picture fear inducing stimuli.

Tasks or conditions involved

There are four conditions in the study involving two fear inducing images of snakes and spiders and two non-fear inducing images of koalas and Kangaroos. These images will be presented in separate blocks in a randomized and counter balanced order with each block being exposed for 12 seconds.

Hypothesis

This study is based on the following hypothesis:

Pictures of the spiders will elicit larger BOLD response in the amygdala of British people compared to the amygdala of Australians.

REFERENCES

Janovcova M, Radlova S, Polak J, Sedlackova K, Peleskova S, Zampachova B, Frynta D and Landova E. 2019. Human attitudes toward Reptiles: A relationship between fear, disgust, and aesthetic preferences. Animals 9,238

Schlegel, J. and Rupf, R. 2010. Attitudes towards potential animal flagship species in nature conservation: A survey among students of di_erent educational institutions. J. Nat. Conserv., 18, 278–290.

Alves, R.R.N.; Vieira, K.S.; Santana, G.G.; Vieira, W.L.S.; Almeida, W.O.; Souto, W.M.S.; Pezzuti, J.C.B. 2012. A review on human attitudes towards reptiles in Brazil. Environ. Monit. Assess. 184, 6877–6901.

Ceriaco, L.M. 2012. Human attitudes towards herpetofauna: The influence of folklore and negative values on the conservation of amphibians and reptiles in Portugal. J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed., 8, 8.