Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Scientists have discovered a way to significantly change a person’s belief system simply by targeting their brain with magnets.
The Daily Mail is reporting on a bizarre new study conducted by Dr. Keise Isuma from the University of York and Dr. Colin Holbrook from the University of California in Los Angeles. The researchers recruited 38 participants who were subjected to a treatment known as transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS, which is used to treat depression. It involves placing a large electromagnetic coil against the scalp and sending electric currents to stimulate nerve cells in the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) which is associated with detecting problems and triggering responses to address them.
Participants had an average age of 21 and the majority held moderate to extremely conservative political beliefs.
Those who were subjected to enough TMS to lower activity in the pMFC reported that their belief in God, heaven, hell and angels dropped by a third following the stimulation.
Researchers found that their levels of prejudice also changed after the treatment. For instance, participants were presented with two essays about immigration – one positive and one critical – and were asked how much they liked the author and how much they agreed with their views. Participants reported that they were 28.5 percent more positive in their feelings toward the immigrant who criticized their country.
This reduction in religious beliefs and prejudice highlights how much such views are influenced by the part of the brain involved with detecting threats, the researchers said.
“People often turn to ideology when they are confronted by problems,” Dr. Isuma said. “We wanted to find out whether a brain region that is linked with solving concrete problems, like deciding how to move one’s body to overcome an obstacle, is also involved in solving abstract problems addressed by ideology.”
He went on to explain: “We decided to remind people of death because previous research has shown that people turn to religion for comfort in the face of death. As expected, we found that when we experimentally turned down the posterior medial frontal cortex, people were less inclined to reach for comforting religious ideas despite having been reminded of death.”
Dr Holbrook said these findings are consistent with the idea that regions of the brain that have evolved to deal with threats are “repurposed” to also produce ideological reactions.
“Whether we’re trying to clamber over a fallen tree that we find in our path, find solace in religion, or resolve issues related to immigration, our brains are using the same basic mental machinery,” the researchers concluded.
More research is now needed to understand exactly how and why religious beliefs and ethnocentric attitudes were reduced in this experiment.
The findings of this study were published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
It’s not hard to imagine how a treatment of this kind could be used to “brainwash” people into thinking the same way by altering their ideological belief system. While it’s great to be able to relieve the suffering of people with depression, using it to alter people’s beliefs is the stuff of a sci fi novel. God help us if this treatment falls into the wrong hands!
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