Also called “dislocation of expectation,” it was the mind’s response to a traumatic situation. The brain attempts to correlate the current situation with a known experience from the past. As the frontal lobe loops in repetitive circles, trying but failing to find a similar situation to work from, the body freezes and waits for directions from the brain. It’s the science behind the proverbial “deer-in-the-headlights” phenomenon.
