From time to time, we have talked about the cognitive difficulties of doing simultaneous tasks such a walking and chewing gum. I, for one, experience sensory overload as the trigger for freezing. For example, when I am really Off and attempting to shuffle down the hall, if I meet one of my cats coming the other way, I freeze. I cannot process the stimuli. If, in the same state, I flush the toilet, I must wait for it to refill because the auditory stimulus overwhelms my ability to process it.

Obviously it is a problem of perception. My internal clock is running slow and the rest of the world appears to be hurtling by. So I freeze.

hat brings me to a very interesting study from 1970 titled "Cortisol effects on averaged evoked potentials, alpha-rhythm, time estimation, and two-flash fusion threshold." available here.
This is an orphan work in that there has been little follow up, but it seems that cortisol can produce just that type of effect. Could this be the explanation for freezing?

From the paper-

The question of whether certain drugs
or naturally occurring substances such as
cortisol might have a demonstrable effect
on a subject's ability to attend or not to
attend selectively to a stimulus is of
great interest when considered in the
broader context of the notion that the
psychic symptoms seen in certain pa
tients who have received cortisol or re
lated substances may be a result of the
effects of cortisol on perception. Spe
cifically, such drugs could exert an effec
on the individual's ability both to filte
out irrelevant stimuli in the environmen
and to process only those stimuli tha
contain meaningful information....

It is possible that cortisol exerted the
effects we observed by mechanisms other
than by decelerating the event generat-
ing portion of the internal clock. Cortisol
could interfere with perception of the
time defining events (whatever they may
be); the results would be the same as if
the events slowed in frequency. The
fact that cortisol also increases the vari-
ability of the responses (Variable 23)
would support the concept of interfered
perception of the event generating por-
tion of the internal clock.....

Cortisol interferes with a subject's ability
to attend selectively to significant stim-
uli. With selection and filtration im-
paired, and with his time sense distorted,
the subject (or patient) has increasing
difficulty with perceptual input. ....

the drug than with the placebo. In gen-
eral, these results may be described
metaphorically as indicating that cortisol
slows the rate of an internal clock, or
otherwise interferes with the perception
of internal timing elements.....

tion. It is suggested that cortisol thus
decreases the subject's ability to attend
differentially to certain visual stimuli.

From Wikipedia:

# Magnesium supplementation decreases serum cortisol levels after aerobic exercise, but not in resistance training.
# Omega 3 fatty acids, in a dose dependent manner (but not significantly), can lower cortisol release influenced by mental stress by suppressing the synthesis of interleukin-1 and 6 and enhance the synthesis of interleukin-2, where the former promote higher CRH release. Omega 6 fatty acids, on the other hand, acts inversely on interleukin synthesis.
# Music therapy can reduce cortisol levels in certain situations.
# Massage therapy can reduce cortisol.
# Laughing and the experience of humour can lower cortisol levels. A dyslexic walked into a bra . . .
# Soy derived Phosphatidylserine interacts with cortisol but the right dosage is still unclear.
# Vitamin C may slightly blunt cortisol release in response to a mental stressor.
# Black tea may speed up recovery from a high cortisol condition.

We have to do more than lower the cortisol. If we just block it, I predict that it would be a big mistake because of why it i there.

We know now that inflammation plays a central role in PD. All the usual causes offered either start or worsen or are themselves potentiated by inflammation or by its doppelganger lipopolysaccharide.

The body responds by producing cortisol, our natural steroid. But like the ones the doc offers, in the long run the cortisol is itself a problem. But without it we will be destroyed by the inflammation. After a few decades of this madness, our adrenals start to poop out.

So, we have to address both problems at once. Things like scullcap and turmeric as a pair, perhaps. There are others and I keep looking.

A fascinating little fable here, if I do say so myself. Scroll down to chapter 6