A new study found that fear of spiders could be among the most common phobias that people face. The study also found that the fear of the creatures could even be the oldest. According to the study, arachnophobia, fear of spiders, is in DNA of humans.

Researchers of the study stated that humans have evolved in Africa and during the humans' evolutionary history, some dangerous spiders had been very common. Many species with potent venoms have been discovered in Africa before hominoids and lived alongside with humans for many years. A bite of black widow spider in the ancestral world could leave a victim incapacitated for a long time.

The study, which was conducted by Joshua New of Barnard College and colleague Tamsin German, has been published in Evolution and Human Behavior. According to the study, human visual system is responsible for keeping ancestral mechanisms. The fear of spiders or snakes is in DNA of humans, as per the study. The specific threats persistently recurred throughout evolutionary time.

According to authors of the study, "Spiders may be one of a very few evolutionarily-persistent threats that are inherently specified for visual detection and uniquely 'prepared' to capture attention and awareness irrespective of any foreknowledge, personal importance, or task-relevance".

During the study, the researchers asked participants to look at some shapes and data on computer screens. The images were of needles and flies. The study included more than 250 participants, and most of them recognized the spiders much quicker than other images, according to the study.

According to the researchers, results of the study supported the theory that humans may have a cognitive mechanism for recognizing some specific animals that were potentially harmful throughout evolutionary history. As per the study, the arachnophobia affects about 4% of people and could be crippling.