I heard that Adrenaline stimulates the "Fight-Flight-Freeze" reaction. This is because our brains still think that we are in the wild and there are lions that want to eat us.
But why is there a "Freeze" in the "Fight-Flight-Freeze"? If some of our ancient ancestors were attacked by lions, and they Freezed, they would be eaten by the Lion!
Why wouldn't have Natural Selection filtered out the "Freeze"?
The freeze response is still there for a reason. One hypothesis for its adaptive value is that in cases where the probability of either winning the fight or successfully escaping is believed by the subject to be too small, staying still, i.e. freezing, improves the outcome. Indeed, moving may elicit additional attacks from a predator, while immobility may cause the predator to believe the prey is dead and let it loose, providing a better chance of escape. This paper examines the freeze response and links to other relevant research.
