Briefing: Why heights and snakes still hit harder: Study tracks fear sweat in 119 people

A recent study published in PLOS One by Eva Landová examined the physiological responses of 119 participants to fear-inducing stimuli.

The findings indicate that both modern threats, such as images of snakes, and ancestral threats trigger comparable physiological reactions, despite their different evolutionary contexts.

This suggests that the underlying mechanisms for fear responses may not have diverged significantly over time, raising implications for understanding human emotional and physiological responses.