The neuroscience of belief

How are beliefs formed? How do they influence our brains and bodies? What makes them susceptible to change, or resistant to it?

Beliefs are a driving force underlying learning and decision-making. They influence our behavior, our health, and our society. They are conceptual acts – ideas constructed by the brain to govern how we perceive the world and what we learn from experience. For some, beliefs are by definition resistant to new evidence, and so take on ‘a life of our own’, leading to self-fulfilling prophecies. This project studies the neuroscience of how beliefs and expectations are formed, how they are represented in the brain, and how they interact with sensory evidence to shape learning. It also studies how interpersonal social context—including verbal suggestions and nonverbal communication—influences brain representations and learning.