Citation

Pontius AA. Aggress. Violent Behav. 2002; 7(1): 69-84.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Visuo-spatial test results on three continents showed a consistently significant difference (Pn=242) and three groups of warring hunter-gatherers (n=144) living nearby (Amazonian Auca Indians, Dani and Asmat of Indonesian New Guinea, and Karo of SW Ethiopia). On both the Kohs Block Design and the Draw-A-Person-With-Face-In-Front (DAPF) tests, the warring groups produced specifically coarse but almost correct test performances. There was a gross global assessment of the overall essential shapes but a neglect of the subtle spatial relations among the shapes. Such performance is a specific sign indicative of crude but fast subcortical processing. Such a short-cut by-passes refined full neocortical evaluation faster by c. 250 ms. In fear-inducing inter-tribal warfare, quick "unthinking" reaction to merely globally evaluated shapes of predators (human or animal) serves survival. By analogy, a testable hypothesis proposes that also in similarly fear-ridden violent Western environments (e.g., in gang warfare or abusive families), such specific indications of habitual subcortical short-cuts are likely to be reflected not only in their spatial tests performance but also in academic subjects requiring accurate spatial relational representation (e.g., literacy).