Passage 24
Directions (24-30): Read the following passage and answer the given questions below it with the help of the information provided in it.
Screaming is a unique noise. Research suggests when we scream in fear, the noise serves the dual purpose of sharpening our own focus in the face of a threat as well as of warning others. In fact, our brains process screams in a unique way. Most noises we hear are delivered from our ear to an area of the brain devoted to analyzing a sound and breaking it into its component parts, such as gender, age, and tone; high or low; a brass, stringed or electric instrument — or several combined; a ribbit or a coo, and what animal makes that sound. This indicates that we differentiate all the noises we hear everyday, even subconsciously.
A scream is different though, according to David Poepple, PhD, a professor of psychology and neural science at New York University. Poepple is the lead author of a 2015 study that looked into what happens in the body when people scream in fear. A scream goes straight from the ear to the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes fear and kickstarts the body’s fight-or-flight response. The sound jolts our brains into increased alertness and analysis. This is especially true for screams when we’re scared. These have a unique sound signature encompassed by the term “roughness.” This roughness is what serves to alert others to danger. Humans and other animals scream for many reasons — in joy, in surprise, in fear. But we’ve evolved to be able to produce different shrieks and to be able to discern the difference when we hear them. (Incidentally, roughness is also why we find the sound of a baby crying and fingernails on chalkboards disturbing; both sounds have high roughness.)
If we focus on the sounds that gain our attention, we will be able to tell which one is rough and which is not.
But what about people who have the opposite reaction when they’re scared? What about the people who don’t scream in fear, but become speechless in the face of a threat? This has been less studied, but it’s likely a part of the third, overlooked response to terror: paralysis. Contrary to pop medicine, fight and flight aren’t the only two reactions to something scary. Humans, like other animals, also evolved the option to freeze, or “play dead” in the face of a threat. This happens involuntarily, when the cerebellum, the part of the brain that regulates muscle activity, overpowers other terrified brain responses and basically shuts down all movement. Since screaming takes quite a few muscles (probably a little less than the 100 used for speaking), a person frozen in fear is rendered mute as well as immobile.