The Human Brain Responds Differently to Belief and Disbelief

Whether you're discussing spiritual beliefs or other beliefs, most people have already made up their mind about how they think, or believe. In a recent press release, researchers announced that our brains actually respond differently when we believe, or do not believe, something.

Researchers at the UCLA Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and at the Massachusetts General Hospital worked together on this study.

The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the different areas of the human brain. This type of imaging study is one of the latest devices that let scientists and medical personnel "see" the inner workings of our brains.

Their studies clearly showed a difference in brain activity when people were presented with things that they did not belief, those that they did believe, and those that they were uncertain about.

While this information is preliminary in nature, it holds vast possibilities for use in the future. Researchers are hoping that eventually other neuroimaginig studies can be done that will display the actual differences that occur when someone believes, or does not believe something to be true.

If so, these techniques could one day be used as a way to determine whether or not someone is being honest and truthful, or is lying and being deceitful.

Researchers noted that when the participants were thinking about different things, all of them seemed to pass a particular area of the brain that is already understood to be involved in governing rewards, feeling pain and disgust, and other emotions.

After passing through this region of the brain, the information then caused other areas of the brain to become active. Before this study, scientists presumed that believing things like, "George Bush is the President" of the U.S., or "three plus three equals six," had nothing in common.

Yet, scientists have discovered that responding to both of these trigger activity in similar areas of the brain, while responding to things that one does not believe to be true also trigger brain activity in different regions.

This study was based upon the results of 14 adults who participated in the study. The imaging studies were done at UCLA's Brain Imaging Center. All of the participants were asked a variety of statements that covered many different topics.

Some of the topics that were asked involved geography, definitions of words, ethical issues, mathematics, and biographical information about themselves. The participants needed to decide if the many statements were false, true, or if they were unable to make a decision.

This study has been published in the journal, Annals of Neurology.

Sources:
http://www.newswise.com/p/articles/view/536159/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_magnetic_resonance_imaging