scholarly journals Processes of believing: Where do they come from? What are they good for?

F1000Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 2573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rüdiger J. Seitz ◽  
Raymond F. Paloutzian ◽  
Hans-Ferdinand Angel
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Personal Meaning ◽  
Belief Formation ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Scholarly Discourse ◽  
Theology And Philosophy

Despite the long scholarly discourse in Western theology and philosophy on religion, spirituality, and faith, explanations of what a belief and what believing is are still lacking. Recently, cognitive neuroscience research addressed the human capacity of believing. We present evidence suggesting that believing is a human brain function which results in probabilistic representations with attributes of personal meaning and value and thereby guides individuals’ behavior. We propose that the same mental processes operating on narratives and rituals constitute belief systems in individuals and social groups. Our theoretical model of believing is suited to account for secular and non-secular belief formation.

scholarly journals Processes of believing: Where do they come from? What are they good for?

F1000Research ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 2573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rüdiger J. Seitz ◽  
Raymond F. Paloutzian ◽  
Hans-Ferdinand Angel
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Personal Meaning ◽  
Belief Formation ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Scholarly Discourse ◽  
Theology And Philosophy

Despite the long scholarly discourse in Western theology and philosophy on religion, spirituality, and faith, explanations of what a belief and what believing is are still lacking. Recently, cognitive neuroscience research addressed the human capacity of believing. We present evidence suggesting that believing is a human brain function which results in probabilistic representations with attributes of personal meaning and value and thereby guides individuals’ behavior. We propose that the same mental processes operating on narratives and rituals constitute belief systems in individuals and social groups. Our theoretical model of believing is suited to account for secular and non-secular belief formation.

From Believing to Belief: A General Theoretical Model

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 1254-1264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rüdiger J. Seitz ◽  
Raymond F. Paloutzian ◽  
Hans-Ferdinand Angel
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Social Pressure ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Interpersonal Contact ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Situational Demands

Cognitive neuroscience research has begun to explore the mental processes underlying what a belief and what believing are. Recent evidence suggests that believing involves fundamental brain functions that result in meaningful probabilistic representations, called beliefs. When relatively stable, these beliefs allow for guidance of behavior in individuals and social groups. However, they are also fluid and can be modified by new relevant information, interpersonal contact, social pressure, and situational demands. We present a theoretical model of believing that can account for the formation of both empirically grounded and metaphysical beliefs.

The Default Network Distinguishes Construals of Proximal versus Distal Events

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2945-2955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana I. Tamir ◽  
Jason P. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Psychological Distance ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Retrosplenial Cortex ◽  
Default Network ◽  
Implicit Measure ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Cognitive Theories ◽  
Different Dimensions

Humans enjoy a singular capacity to imagine events that differ from the “here-and-now.” Recent cognitive neuroscience research has linked such simulation processes to the brain's “default network.” However, extant cognitive theories suggest that perceivers reliably simulate only relatively proximal experiences—those that seem nearby, soon, likely to happen, or relevant to a close other. Here, we test these claims by examining spontaneous engagement of the default network while perceivers consider experiencing events from proximal and distal perspectives. Across manipulations of perspective in four dimensions, two regions of the default network—medial prefrontal cortex and retrosplenial cortex—were more active for proximal than distal events, supporting cognitive accounts that perceivers only richly simulate experiences that seem immediate and that perceivers represent different dimensions of distance similarly. Moreover, stable individual differences in default activity when thinking about distal events correlated with individual variability in an implicit measure of psychological distance, suggesting that perceivers naturally vary in their tendency to simulate far-off or unlikely experiences.

scholarly journals Memory in health and in schizophrenia

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-410 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Memory Processing ◽  
Flat Affect ◽  
History Of

Memory is an important capacity needed for survival in a changing environment, and its principles are shared across species. These principles have been studied since the inception of behavioral science, and more recently neuroscience has helped understand brain systems and mechanisms responsible for enabling aspects of memory. Here we outline the history of work on memory and its neural underpinning, and describe the major dimensions of memory processing that have been evaluated by cognitive neuroscience, focusing on episodic memory. We present evidence in healthy populations for sex differences-females outperforming in verbal and face memory, and age effects-slowed memory processes with age. We then describe deficits associated with schizophrenia. Impairment in schizophrenia is more severe in patients with negative symptoms-especially flat affect-who also show deficits in measures of social cognition. This evidence implicates medial temporal and frontal regions in schizophrenia.

Remembering Over the Short and Long Term

2020 ◽  
pp. 282-310
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Reuter-Lorenz ◽  
Alexandru D. Iordan
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Strategic Processing ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Time Courses

This chapter reviews evidence from behavioural and cognitive neuroscience research that supports a unitary view of memory whereby working memory and long-term memory phenomena arise from representations and processes that are largely shared when remembering over the short or long term. Using ‘false working memories’ as a case study, it highlights several paradoxes that cannot be explained by a multisystem view of memory in which working memory and long-term memory are structurally distinct. Instead, it is posited that behavioural memory effects over the short and long term relating to semantic processing, modality/domain-specificity, dual-task interference, strategic processing, and so on arise from the differences in activational states and availability of different representational features (e.g. sensory/perceptual, associative, action-based) that vary in their time courses and activity, attentional priority, and susceptibility to interference. Cognitive neuroscience evidence primarily from brain imaging methodologies that support this view is reviewed.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Gorman
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Psychiatric Illness ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
World War ◽  
Psychiatric Illnesses ◽  
The Past ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
The Mind

After World War II, mental health turned toward psychopharmacology, the use of medications to treat psychiatric illnesses, as its mainstay. The success of medications led some to insist that all mental illness is due to the inheritance of abnormal genes and that life’s experiences play a diminished role. This alienated many who believe that psychotherapy is also an effective way of treating these disorders and led to a mistrust of neuroscience research. Some insisted that neuroscience ignores the human “mind.” In fact, neuroscience research in the past 50 years has clearly shown that adverse life experiences have profound effects on brain function and are involved in every psychiatric illness. By accepting this view of neuroscience, we can also accept the idea that the “mind” is in reality the work of the physical brain.

Social Empathy

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Segal
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Brain Imaging ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Social Empathy ◽  
The Relationship

This article defines and explains the concept and trait of social empathy and the relationship to interpersonal empathy. Both concepts are explained using the latest cognitive neuroscience research on brain activity. Through brain imaging, the components that together make up the full array of empathy have been identified and are discussed in relation to social work practice. The application of social empathy in the policy-making arena is described, and the implications for social work practice to enhance empathy are discussed.

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