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Selectively altering belief formation in the human brain

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 14:32 authored by Tali Sharot, Ryota Kanai, David Marston, Christoph W Korn, Geraint Rees, Raymond J Dolan
Humans form beliefs asymmetrically; we tend to discount bad news but embrace good news. This reduced impact of unfavorable information on belief updating may have important societal implications, including the generation of financial market bubbles, ill preparedness in the face of natural disasters, and overly aggressive medical decisions. Here, we selectively improved people's tendency to incorporate bad news into their beliefs by disrupting the function of the left (but not right) inferior frontal gyrus using transcranial magnetic stimulation, thereby eliminating the engrained "good news/bad news effect." Our results provide an instance of how selective disruption of regional human brain function paradoxically enhances the ability to incorporate unfavorable information into beliefs of vulnerability.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

ISSN

1091-6490

Publisher

National Academy of Sciences

Issue

42

Volume

109

Page range

17058-62

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2013-03-11

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    University of Sussex (Publications)

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