Faith found to reduce errors on psychological test

[joeactor]

Interesting study results using the "Stroop" test:
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/090306_god

From the article:

Com­pared to non-be­liev­ers, In­zlicht found, re­li­gious par­ti­ci­pants showed sig­nif­i­cantly less ac­ti­vity in a part of the brain called the an­te­ri­or cin­gu­late cor­tex. This struc­ture is be­lieved to help mod­i­fy be­hav­ior by sig­nal­ing when at­ten­tion and con­trol are needed, usu­ally as a re­sult of some anx­i­e­ty-producing event like mak­ing a mis­take.

I want to believe,
JoeActor

[Will]

Fascinating. But which causes which? Does belief in the supernatural cause the an­te­ri­or cin­gu­late cor­tex to be less active? Or does a less active an­te­ri­or cin­gu­late cor­tex cause people to be more susceptible to spirituality, superstition, or religion? We've got another chicken and egg situation.

[joeactor]

Fascinating. But which causes which? Does belief in the supernatural cause the an­te­ri­or cin­gu­late cor­tex to be less active? Or does a less active an­te­ri­or cin­gu­late cor­tex cause people to be more susceptible to spirituality, superstition, or religion? We've got another chicken and egg situation.

Good point.

You could also bring Nature vs. Nurture into the equation.
Perhaps there's a genetic component for belief...

[Hitsumei]

Fascinating. But which causes which? Does belief in the supernatural cause the an­te­ri­or cin­gu­late cor­tex to be less active? Or does a less active an­te­ri­or cin­gu­late cor­tex cause people to be more susceptible to spirituality, superstition, or religion? We've got another chicken and egg situation.

It could also merely be correlation.

[Will]

It could also merely be correlation.

True.

[Recusant]

Perhaps there's a genetic component for belief...

I would not be surprised to find that this was true.  This article, about a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is of interest in that regard.  

As for the study in the OP, it does seem to tend to point to the idea that religious people feel less need to question themselves and their beliefs, which common sense would say was the case.

[LARA]

I thought the Stroop test itself is rather interesting.

http://www.snre.umich.edu/eplab/demos/s ... pdesc.html

This is just the first link to a description of this psychological test  that I came across on Google.  It has a link to test yourself, although I didn't try it myself.

And just a randomn flippant thought regarding the fact that this test has to do with an individuals capacity for attention and avoiding mental fatigue.  Maybe atheists, having less practice at sitting still and being quiet in church or in meditation, are at some disadvantage at this task.  

[AlP]

I thought the Stroop test itself is rather interesting.

I agree. I tried it and I am fascinated. I don't know how the online test compares to the real thing but this is how the online test works. Don't worry about reading this if you want to try the test. I don't think it will affect the results. I took the test 3 times, the second and third time knowing how the test works, and it didn't affect the result for the second and third attempts. This is my result for my third attempt.

You are shown both a colored rectangle and the word for the color in English in white text in a sequence of 10 times and asked to identify the color. There are two choices, one to the left and one to the right. You press either the left or right arrow key to identify the color. It took me 9 seconds to identify 10 colors in this way. I am 6 beers drunk right now so I might repeat this tomorrow.

Then you are shown a sequence of 10 words for color in white text, again with two choices of words for color in white text. You press one of the arrow keys to identify which words match. I found this much easier because I was just matching identical words. It took me 7 seconds to match the 10 words.

The next test was the harder one for me. It is like the first test in that you have to match a color displayed as a color with the word for that color. The confusing part is that the color is rendered as a word for a different color. So green might be rendered as the word "red" but in a green font. I found it took me longer to identify the 10 colors: 12 seconds.

Now to read the article linked from the OP

[Maverick9092]

I have faith, and I've found that I don't think it's actually having faith that causes me to do so well in school.  I think that it's God's will that I do well on the tests, maybe so I can be a doctor or something when I grow up.  Either way, I'll go whichever way He decides to take me in my life.

[VanReal]

From the article:

Com­pared to non-be­liev­ers, In­zlicht found, re­li­gious par­ti­ci­pants showed sig­nif­i­cantly less ac­ti­vity in a part of the brain called the an­te­ri­or cin­gu­late cor­tex. This struc­ture is be­lieved to help mod­i­fy be­hav­ior by sig­nal­ing when at­ten­tion and con­trol are needed, usu­ally as a re­sult of some anx­i­e­ty-producing event like mak­ing a mis­take.

I want to believe,
JoeActor

This little snippet is interesting.  Believers have significantly less activity in the part of the brain that modifies behavior and signals when attention and controls are needed.  That makes sense to me.  They think the have it all figured out so there is no need for the brain to react in a puzzling situation or to think about mistakes and how to handle them since they don't see the need.  I don't think this is a good thing, seems like that part of the brain is designed to function in this matter and the religious ones are less reactive.  It actually seems that although they do better on the test because that part of the brain is less active the non-religious participants had that part firing away and reacting more often.  I bet people with brain damage would fair better as well.