Snake detection theory: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Vipera_aspis_aspis.jpg|thumb|alt=Vipera Aspis.| Vipera Aspis. According to the Snake Detection Hypothesis, venomous, life-threatening snakes were crucial for the evolution of primates' visual systems.]]

The '''Snake Detection Theory''' (sometimes more correctly referred to as "Snake Detection Hypothesis")<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Isbell|first1=Lynne A.|title=Snakes as agents of evolutionary change in primate brains|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|date=1 July 2006|volume=51|issue=1|pages=1–35|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.12.012|pmid=16545427|citeseerx=10.1.1.458.2574}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Isbell|first1=Lynne A.|title=The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent|date=2009|url=https://books.google.com/?id=yKzIuw4YBCoC&pg=PR7&dq=The+Fruit,+the+Tree,+and+the+Serpent+isbell#v=onepage&q=The%20Fruit%2C%20the%20Tree%2C%20and%20the%20Serpent%20isbell&f=false|publisher=Harvard University Press|language=en|isbn=9780674033016}}</ref> suggests that [[snakes]] have contributed to the evolution of [[primates]]' visual system.

According to the theoryhypothesis, predatory pressure from snakes has selected individuals who are better able to

recognize them, improving their survival chances and therefore transferring such skill to their offspring. From this point of view, snakes were responsible for the modification and expansion of primate visual systems which made [[visual perception|vision]] the most developed sensory interface with the external environment for modern primates.

In her book,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Isbell|first1=Lynne A.|title=The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent|date=2009|url=https://books.google.com/?id=yKzIuw4YBCoC&pg=PR7&dq=The+Fruit,+the+Tree,+and+the+Serpent+isbell#v=onepage&q=The%20Fruit%2C%20the%20Tree%2C%20and%20the%20Serpent%20isbell&f=false|publisher=Harvard University Press|language=en|isbn=9780674033016}}</ref> [[anthropologist]] Lynne Isbell writes that snakes evolved to be difficult to detect and mortally dangerous. Surviving the peril of snakes for millions of years required selective pressure favoring primates' specialized visual systems. Compared to that of other mammals, the [[Pulvinar nuclei|pulvinar]] region of the brain &ndash; which helps to visually detect relevant objects &ndash; is disproportionately large and effective in the brains of primates (including [[human]]s).