tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143200634875010591.post3444121866082978556..comments2023-04-25T08:34:39.999-07:00Comments on Strike, Rattle, & Roll: What do the Grammys and The Fear of Snakes Have in Common?Breehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05661805666513690900noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143200634875010591.post-80782596034093210102015-02-20T09:06:11.161-08:002015-02-20T09:06:11.161-08:00Here's one anecdotal data point: My mother wa...Here's one anecdotal data point: My mother was deathly afraid of snakes - all kinds - yet I grew up with no innate fear of them at all. Indeed, I was fascinated by them, and would invariably try to catch or otherwise interact with every snake I came across. This was on a ranch in the Rogue Valley in Oregon, where there were plenty of Gopher Snakes and Garter Snakes, but no Rattlesnakes. When I found a Gopher snake in the oak-madrone-manzanita habitat, and tried to catch it, sometimes it would do the tail-shaking-in-dry-leaves thing; and invariably this provoked an automatic fear response in me, even though I knew beyond doubt that it was not a Rattler! So for me anyway, the response to the rattling sound seems to have been innate, and separate from visual detection. Even in rattlesnake country, the sight of a rattler did not usually produce a strong fear response, but the buzz certainly did!<br /><br />Tim Bray, Albion, California<br />ecologyhour.wordpress.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143200634875010591.post-28979087570691103562015-02-17T16:25:55.988-08:002015-02-17T16:25:55.988-08:00Thanks Andrew! It's interesting that I couldn&...Thanks Andrew! It's interesting that I couldn't find any studies on human responses to hearing rattling sounds of rattlesnakes. It would be a cool companion study to all the countless studies that focus on human detection of snake scale patterns (even if humans were never preyed upon by rattlesnakes).Breehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05661805666513690900noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143200634875010591.post-33886580807147497932015-02-17T16:10:34.477-08:002015-02-17T16:10:34.477-08:00There was also a good podcast on this subject on N...There was also a good podcast on this subject on NPR recently: <br /><br />http://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/377515477/fearless<br /><br />which prompted me to read the Tierney & Connolly paper you cited above. I was surprised that the evidence for an innate fear of snakes was not stronger, considering that you hear about it all the time.<br /><br />Also, it appears that St. Vincent won her Grammy!Andrew Dursohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04720822623046554913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143200634875010591.post-14721977284574053692015-02-17T08:31:10.591-08:002015-02-17T08:31:10.591-08:00What a great and insightful article, we did some i...What a great and insightful article, we did some interviews which might be of interest http://bit.ly/OQjjYkReptile Apartmenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14052361792554191437noreply@blogger.com