A Mojave Rattlesnake near Phoenix, Arizona last year. This relatively young snake. While the old idea of counting rattle segments to tell the age of a snake isn’t accurate, much can still be learned. For instance, this snake still has its prebutton intact, which it was born with – its first shed skin revealing the full button. Then two articulated segments, and a the basal segment mean this snake has shed three times in its life. Given the strong and steady taper of segments and very healthy weight, and time of year it was found (late in the monsoon): this snake had just had its first birthday. As usual, it’s not green … and not “aggressive”. These timid snakes, like any other rattlesnake … or any other animal … will do all they can to prevent their own death. Add in a lifetime of hearing from everyone around that they are aggressive and chase you down on sight, not a small amount of social media distortion, and a sprinkle of personal identity reliance on contrived threats, and you have the most feared animal in the West.

But if this is you … it’s not your fault. Your brain can lie to you. In fact, with things you may fear, it can do so quite effectively. So while many stories of Mojaves chasing someone through the desert are flat-out lies, many are not. The reason: just like the snake, you are programmed for survival. In some cases, this means adding a few exclamation points to perception and memory.

And if you don’t buy that your brain can lie to you: open a new tab and look up any optical illusion. Right there in front of you: your brain is lying. Then, read these publications:

1. Riskind, J. H., Moore, R., & Bowley, L. (1995).

The looming of spiders: The fearful perceptual distortion of movement and menace. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33(2), 171–178. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0005796794E0023C

This paper explores how fear increases the perceived motion and menace of feared objects such as spiders and snakes. Fearful individuals overestimated the movement of spiders/snakes, evidencing distorted space/time perception under phobic conditions.

2. Öhman, A., & Mineka, S. (2003).

The malicious serpent: Snakes as a prototypical stimulus for an evolved module of fear. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(1), 5–9. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8721.01211

This article theorizes that fear of snakes activates an “evolved fear module” in the brain, causing rapid and automatic responses to snake stimuli. It suggests deep-rooted neurocognitive pathways shape the perception of danger.

3. Teachman, B. A., Gregg, A. P., & Woody, S. R. (2001).

Implicit associations for fear-relevant stimuli among individuals with snake and spider fears. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110(2), 226–235. https://www.academia.edu/download/49240316

Using implicit association tests, this paper reveals distorted cognitive processing of snake stimuli in phobic individuals. It supports the idea that fear biases long-term memory and perception of threat magnitude.

4. Soares, S. C. (2010).

Fear commands attention: Snakes as the archetypal fear stimulus? [Doctoral dissertation]. Karolinska Institutet. https://openarchive.ki.se/articles/thesis/Fear_commands_attention_snakes_as_the_archetypal_fear_stimulus_/26901778/1/files/48943789.pdf

This dissertation offers detailed experiments demonstrating that snakes command disproportionate attentional resources, even in peripheral vision, leading to spatial distortion and overestimated danger.