Sending Messages: Multiple Choice Vocabulary Test

You are standing in a (0)       D       area. Suddenly there is a disturbance, and even though you can’t see what’s going on, you, and those near you, immediately feel (1)________ and quickly move away.

Scientists have long known about animal (2)________ to danger. For instance, if one animal begins to run away, then all the other animals in the group will (3)________. But scientists have been baffled by what causes (4)________ behaviour in humans. What is it that causes fear to (5)________ so quickly through a group of people?

Researchers at Harvard believe they may have begun to unravel the mystery. In the past it was accepted that people judged emotional situations (6)________ by looking at faces. What this new study has (7)________ is that the position of the body is also very important.

To test their theory, the scientists showed pictures of people (8)________ indifferent poses but with their faces rubbed out. The pictures showed people in happy, neutral and fearful positions. While the test subjects (9)________ at the pictures, their brains were scanned to how they reacted. The researchers found that the fearful position caused a very (10)________ reaction despite the lack of any facial expression in the pictures. The effects suggest that humans react instinctively to a position of fear in other people and that this (11)________ in our behaviour has helped humans to (12)________ in dangerous situations throughout our evolution.