We all have our respective convictions — beliefs that we strongly hold on to. Because we firmly hold on to these beliefs, we only entertain and process information that strengthens our said beliefs, but we fail to process information that contradicts them. While scientists have understood this phenomenon for a time, they did not yet understand the underlying mechanisms behind this phenomenon.
In this study published in Nature Communications, researchers try to understand the neural processes that help explain confirmation bias.
Lead author, Ph.D. candidate Max Rollwage (Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging at UCL and Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry & Ageing Research) said: "We were interested in the cognitive and neural mechanisms causing people to ignore information that contradicts their beliefs, a phenomenon known as confirmation bias. For example, climate change sceptics might ignore scientific evidence that indicates the existence of global warming.
See the study over at MedicalXpress.
(Image Credit: webandi/ Pixabay)
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If you want a good example of this, look at the issue of Gun Control in Canada!
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