Cracking the Snake Detection Theory: The Subcortical Visual Pathway as a Major Player in Cultural Transformations

According to the proposed hypothesis, graphic characters trigger the subcortical visual route. The reaction discussed is very weak. Yet, its very existence has an unusual importance: characters and (occluded) venomous snakeskin patterns reveal themselves as conflatable. Furthermore, following tractogra- phic research, a functional segregation of the subcortical pathway is to be presupposed. Thus, there can’t be a later dissociation of two stimuli previously associated. The outcomes of lecture will gradually appear probabilistically (much) more peaceful than encountering a venomous snake, though, and thus a continuous lessening of the reaction is expectable. Here, on one hand, it is relevant that the subcortical visual pathway goes to the amygdala. The reactions we describe tap into goal-oriented processes, and they will do that unfettered. On the other hand, in the case of characters, since the beginning, fear has been converted into appetition to a great degree. This process should be fostered in the presence of light. In this way, luminosity might become a conditioned stimulus for attraction. In this case, a Pavlovian addiction for light will foster, yet also—from the point of view of reward feeling—counterbalance the lessening of the stimulation elicited by characters. The addiction we refer to is one towards light accompanied by graphic signs. Yet, as opposed to the case of the luminous medium, the attention captured by the later ones taken for themselves is continuously reduced.