# Instincts are learned not earned

**URL:** <https://discourse.numenta.org/t/instincts-are-learned-not-earned/10034>\
**Category:** Community\
**Tags:** question, community\
**Created:** [September 1, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/instincts-are-learned-not-earned/10034 "2022-09-01T16:11:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 22

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**Author:** ![steve9773](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.numenta.org/steve9773/32/5649_2.png) [@steve9773](https://discourse.numenta.org/u/steve9773)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 11:38am UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/instincts-are-learned-not-earned/10034/22 "2022-09-05T11:38:03Z")

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That paper seems pretty bad to me, doesn’t it?

My read of the evidence is that the genetically-hardcoded snake detector is in the superior colliculus. (But other parts of the brain like amygdala and cerebellum get roped in after within-lifetime learning.) By the way, I think the snake might have to be slithering for superior colliculus to recognize it (and likewise spiders need to be skittering); this is another way that experimental papers in the literature often screw up, I think.

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