Document Type : Original article
Author
PhD Student of Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction: The main purpose of the study was to reveal perceptual-cognitive biases related to supernatural beliefs in the cerebral hemispheres. Paranormal beliefs are strongly related to perceptual biases for detecting illusory patterns for instance. Perceptual processing and Cognitive biases are strongly influenced by prior expectations and learning experiences. Methods: A convenient sample of 32 university students (10females) were recruited for the experiment. Three measures were used, a computerized face /house recognition task, a brain lateralization scale (Wells and Wagner, 1985), and paranormal belief questionnaire (Blackmore and Moore, 1994). Repeated measures ANOVA method was used. Findings: The result showed a significant difference between groups with left and both left/right brained in Perceptual-Cognitive biases. Conclusion: this study revealed a relationship between paranormal belief with right brained lateralization scores. These findings are in agreement with those of previous studies, which indicates that paranormal beliefs influence the perceptual processing and Cognitive biases.
Keywords
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