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We present a theoretical account that traces the origins of meditation to the evolutionarily conserved repertoire of defensive freezing. We propose that this ancient survival response\u2014characterized by motoric immobility, heightened vigilance with narrowed attentional focus, and bradycardia\u2014provided a behavioral, neural, and physiological substrate upon which operant and social reinforcement could act. Over evolutionary time, these response components may have been co\u2010opted and selectively reinforced within early human social communities, giving rise to complex, structured behavioral repertoires resembling modern sitting and slow\u2010movement meditative practices embedded within various cultural systems of teaching. Rather than viewing meditation as a human psychological innovation, we suggest it represents a culturally refined expression of an ancestral survival strategy, maintained and elaborated through reinforcement, mimicry, and verbal instruction, spanning the late Paleolithic era (approximately 150,000\u2212200,000 years before present) to the present day. This framework recasts meditation as an evolved modulation of a more basic stress\u2010 and threat\u2010related freezing response template, shaped and maintained through social reinforcement.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/nyas.70249","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,23]],"date-time":"2026-03-23T14:26:08Z","timestamp":1774275968000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Defensive Freezing and the Evolutionary Origins of Meditation in Humans"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"1557","author":[{"given":"David S.","family":"Black","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California  Los Angeles California USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Phil","family":"Reed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Psychology Swansea University  Singleton Park 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