Why is everyone afraid of the dark? (According to science)

Why are people afraid of the dark? Today we dive into this common fear (even among adults).

#halloween #fear #spooky #dark #science

Further Reading:

Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Ollendick, T. H., King, N. J., & Bogie, N. (2001). Children's nighttime fears: Parent–child ratings of frequency, content, origins, coping behaviors and severity. Behaviour research and therapy, 39(1), 13-28..

McGlashan, E. M., Poudel, G. R., Jamadar, S. D., Phillips, A. J., & Cain, S. W. (2021). Afraid of the dark: Light acutely suppresses activity in the human amygdala. Plos one, 16(6), e0252350.

Wichlinski, L. J. (2022). Adaptive Solutions to the Problem of Vulnerability During Sleep. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 1-36.

Oswald, I. (1976). The function of sleep. Postgraduate medical journal, 52(603), 15-18.

Grillon, C., Pellowski, M., Merikangas, K. R., & Davis, M. (1997). Darkness facilitates the acoustic startle reflex in humans. Biological psychiatry, 42(6), 453-460.

Wiesmann, M., Kopietz, R., Albrecht, J., Linn, J., Reime, U., Kara, E., ... & Stephan, T. (2006). Eye closure in darkness animates olfactory and gustatory cortical areas. Neuroimage, 32(1), 293-300.
Sidiki, S. S., Hamilton, R., & Dutton, G. N. (2003). Fear of the dark in children: is stationary night blindness the cause?. BMJ, 326(7382), 211-212.
Chaudhury, D., & Colwell, C. S. (2002). Circadian modulation of learning and memory in fear-conditioned mice. Behavioural brain research, 133(1), 95-108.
Aslani, S., Harb, M. R., Costa, P. S., Almeida, O. F., Sousa, N., & Palha, J. A. (2014). Day and night: diurnal phase influences the response to chronic mild stress. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 8, 82.

[LoneHowler]

Some humans have a nocturnal circadian rhythm, it was suspected that it was adaptive to have some of the tribe awake as guardians to alert for predators. It's now called Delayed Sleep phase syndrome, because society is designed for morning people, not for night owls

[saltlifegull]

Love that you provide documentation on your info. Subscriber from Florida.

[chochoproductions]

Hey y'all, is there anyway yall could make a video on molar vs molecular approaches in behavior analysis?