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closeWhere does belief reside?
Posted by essecj on 01 Oct 2009 at 07:56 GMT
We know little about how human consciousness works. Is it possible that what we see on brain scans is the physical correlate of a fundamental, whole-mind process that is currently beyond our detection? I ask this because the study shows which areas of the brain are active during a question/answer task, but for me it sheds no light on where in the brain a belief actually resides. So I am left to ponder a feedback loop between the physical brain and what I'll call the field of consciousness. (I am a non-scientist and apologize in advance if this post betrays ignorance. But I mean well!)
RE: Where does belief reside?
mscohen replied to essecj on 01 Oct 2009 at 16:42 GMT
No apologies needed. There is no consensus among neuroscience about the residence of memory, belief, consciousness or most any higher level brain process, though we can say a lot about vision, audition, motor control, etc... I think that most would agree that more abstract functions are actually distributed, albeit inhomogeneously, across much of the brain.
Our study refers not to where belief resides, but to regions of the brain that are active in processing questions of belief. Where does the image on your TV 'reside'? Well, I can tell you that if I disconnect the video inputs, it is gone. I can also tell you which parts of the device use more energy when the image is on the screen. These metaphors, I think, speak pretty accurately about our present understanding of the brain.
RE: RE: Where does belief reside?
essecj replied to mscohen on 02 Oct 2009 at 21:53 GMT
Thanks. Now, I came away not clear on whether there were meaningful differences in the processing regions between the two groups. Were there? Separate question: To what extent might your results correlate with recent studies on the placebo effect (that is, does belief have a placebo effect)?
RE: RE: RE: Where does belief reside?
preternat replied to essecj on 09 Oct 2009 at 07:28 GMT
Yes, there were differences. Click on a graphic to see them. However, my interpretation is that the differences weren't necessarily exclusive to religious believers vs non-religious believers. Perhaps the results could have been duplicated by asking different kinds of believers vs non-believers. Eg "country music is the best kind of music in the world" (true/false). Or "the war in Iraq was a good war".
Or (related to the placebo effect) "homeopathy can cure diseases". Or "medicine man in forest make bad spirits flee".
I wouldn't mind being corrected or enlightened further, of course.