The Resolution of the Latah Paradox

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Abstract
Latah is a culture-bound syndrome from Malaysia and Indonesia. Persons exhibiting the Latah syndrome respond to minimal stimuli with exaggerated startles, often exclaiming normally inhibited sexually denotative words. Sometimes Latahs after being startled obey the commands or imitate the actions of persons about them. Most episodes of Latah are intentionally provoked for the amusement of onlookers. Similar sets of interactive behaviors were reported from genetically and culturally unrelated populations (e.g., Bantu, Ainu and French Canadians). Since competent anthropological investigators have shown Latah to be untimately tied to specific factors in the cultural systems of the Southeast Asian societies in which it is found, its occurrence elsewhere was considered paradoxical. New data including films and videotapes of hyperstartling persons from Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan and the USA, suggest a model capable of resolving the apparent paradox by showing how the various forms of latah are culture-specific exploitations of a neurophysiological potential shared by humans and other mammals. Latah provides an especially revealing example of the complex ways in which neurophysiological, experiential and cultural variables interact to produce a strongly marked social phenomenon.

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