Neuromodulation of group prejudice and religious belief, using magnets.

[xSilverPhinx]

Transcranial magnetic stimulation has a variety of effects and uses, ranging from temporarily boosting cognitive abilities to treating depression. Here they downregulated the medial prefrontal cortex, which is a structure associated with resolving conflicts or dealing with threats (such as death)  sometimes by resorting to previously held ideologies. This seemingly caused people to become less religious/spiritual and tended to agree more with an immigrant who wrote a critical essay of their country.

Psychologists have discovered it's possible to significantly change a person's beliefs simply by targeting their brain with magnets.
Using what's known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, the researchers were able to temporarily shut down the part of the brain associated with detecting and solving problems.
People who were subjected to this treatment reported that their belief in God dropped by a third following the stimulation, while there was an increase in positive feelings towards immigrants.

Could your views on God and immigration be changed by using MAGNETS? Brain stimulation can alter beliefs, study claims.


The abstract is here: Neuromodulation of group prejudice and religious belief.

[Recusant]

Intriguing stuff; thanks for posting!

--Resisting the urge to post an image of the Insane Clown Posse dopes.

I couldn't get the link to the abstract to work,  so I found a pre-publication version of the paper (PDF).

Abstract:

People cleave to ideological convictions with greater intensity in the aftermath of threat. The posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) plays a key role in both detecting discrepancies between desired and current conditions and adjusting subsequent behavior to resolve such conflicts. Building on prior literature examining the role of the pMFC in shifts in relatively low-level decision processes, we demonstrate that the pMFC mediates adjustments in adherence to political and religious ideologies. We presented participants with a reminder of death and a critique of their in-group ostensibly written by a member of an out-group, then experimentally decreased both avowed belief in God and out-group derogation by downregulating pMFC activity via transcranial magnetic stimulation. The results provide the first evidence that group prejudice and religious belief are susceptible to targeted neuromodulation, and point to a shared cognitive mechanism underlying concrete and abstract decision processes. We discuss the implications of these findings for further research characterizing the cognitive and affective mechanisms at play.

. . . And an article on ScienceDaily:

"Belief in God and prejudice reduced by directing magnetic energy into the brain" | ScienceDaily

The findings, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, reveal that people in whom the targeted brain region was temporarily shut down reported 32.8% less belief in God, angels, or heaven. They were also 28.5% more positive in their feelings toward an immigrant who criticised their country. Dr Izuma, from the University's Department of Psychology, said: "People often turn to ideology when they are confronted by problems. We wanted to find out whether a brain region that is linked with solving concrete problems, like deciding how to move one's body to overcome an obstacle, is also involved in solving abstract problems addressed by ideology."

[Continues . . .]

It was interesting how they attempted to quantify their subjects' "belief in God" so precisely, and I question whether the results are as accurate as they say, but the experiment definitely seems to have had some sort of effect.

[xSilverPhinx]

Odd...the abstract link works fine for me, but nevermind, you found a free version of the pre-publication paper, which is better. 

I believe we all know the answer to those dopes' question: 



Yes.



It might not be 100% accurate and they probably could have used more participants in this study perhaps, but yes, it suggests there's something going on there.

[Icarus]

Sounds like a scam but perhaps there is substance there. This reminds me of the craze for indoor pyramids in the 70s. The pyramids were portable structures that would let the occupant heal from all sorts of maladies. A form of super Feng suei.  Copper bracelets cure arthritis ........ snake oil cures.............. etc.

There are lots of magnets at CERN. Might that provide a clue as to why the staff is mostly populated by non theist types? 

[xSilverPhinx]

Sounds like a scam but perhaps there is substance there. This reminds me of the craze for indoor pyramids in the 70s. The pyramids were portable structures that would let the occupant heal from all sorts of maladies. A form of super Feng suei.  Copper bracelets cure arthritis ........ snake oil cures.............. etc.

I don't know, it seems to be pretty validated. 

The "God Helmet" and their results are controversial, though. 

There are lots of magnets at CERN. Might that provide a clue as to why the staff is mostly populated by non theist types?

[Recusant]

Odd...the abstract link works fine for me [. . .]

The link was working, but the page was showing a blank space where the abstract should have been. I just tried it again out of curiosity and the abstract is now showing for me. 

Part of why I went looking for other sources is because I don't trust The Daily Mail to report science accurately. Or anything else, for that matter. 

[xSilverPhinx]

Odd...the abstract link works fine for me [. . .]

The link was working, but the page was showing a blank space where the abstract should have been. I just tried it again out of curiosity and the abstract is now showing for me. 

Oh, Ok. I thought I was going crazy there.

Part of why I went looking for other sources is because I don't trust The Daily Mail to report science accurately. Or anything else, for that matter. 

I was being a little hasty there, but yes, it isn't the best option. It seemed to be the most complete one of the ones I read, though I totally forgot about Science Daily.

I had access to the published paper and meant to add that whoever wanted it could ask me for it, but forgot about that as well.




Mental note to self: Multitasking doesn't make you more efficient!     

[Icarus]

From xSP
Mental note to self: Multitasking doesn't make you more efficient! 
[/quote]

Some fairly recent research has made it clear that the multitasking thing is counter productive. Yes you can walk and chew gum at the same time but you can not drive your car and text without risk. Nor can you efficiently solve intricate math problems while listening to rock music or any other music with lyrics. No matter what the teen agers claim. It is impossible to give your undivided attention to more than one thing at a time. 

I have been a smoker forever so it is an ingrained process that does not require thought, or so it would seem. However, I have had many instances in which I was thoroughly engrossed in some work process and my damned cigarette goes out because I failed to suck on it. 

[xSilverPhinx]

Some fairly recent research has made it clear that the multitasking thing is counter productive. Yes you can walk and chew gum at the same time but you can not drive your car and text without risk. Nor can you efficiently solve intricate math problems while listening to rock music or any other music with lyrics. No matter what the teen agers claim. It is impossible to give your undivided attention to more than one thing at a time. 

I have been a smoker forever so it is an ingrained process that does not require thought, or so it would seem. However, I have had many instances in which I was thoroughly engrossed in some work process and my damned cigarette goes out because I failed to suck on it.

That's true. People seem to believe that their brains have unlimited resources and attention, which obviously isn't the case. The belief that people can multitask efficiently, and that good multitaskers are valued, is pervasive. Women are expected to be better at it, too.

Ever hear of the Dunning-Kruger Effect? I guess it can also be applied to multitasking abilities. Most tend to overestimate and believe that they are good at it, but when put to the test turns out we're all rather bad at it. 

I'm guilty of almost always having things competing for my attention at any given moment of the day, and I feel there's a loss of productivity. I make more mistakes. But I keep doing it anyways because I'm a lost cause.   

I read somewhere that people texting while driving are just as likely as a drunk driver to cause an accident. If this is true, then why aren't there more educational resources aimed at explaining that to people (at least here in Brazil, I don't know about other countries)?  I'd bet insurance companies and governments loose loads of money each year due to accidents caused by people using their phones while driving. Pity such thing doesn't turn up in blood tests...

[solidsquid]

Here's the full paper for anyone interested:

Neuromodulation of group prejudice and religious belief