Same Story, Different Story: The Neural Representation of Interpretive Frameworks

Differences in people's beliefs can substantially impact their interpretation of a series of events. In this functional MRI study, we manipulated subjects' beliefs, leading two groups of subjects to interpret the same narrative in different ways. We found that responses in higher-order bra...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPsychological science Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 307 - 319
Main Authors Yeshurun, Yaara, Swanson, Stephen, Simony, Erez, Chen, Janice, Lazaridi, Christina, Honey, Christopher J., Hasson, Uri
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.03.2017
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Belief & doubt
Brain
Cognition & reasoning
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Medical imaging
Narratives
Subsets
context
theory of mind
interpretation
narrative
neuroimaging
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI10.1177/0956797616682029

Cover

More Information
Summary:Differences in people's beliefs can substantially impact their interpretation of a series of events. In this functional MRI study, we manipulated subjects' beliefs, leading two groups of subjects to interpret the same narrative in different ways. We found that responses in higher-order brain areas—including the default-mode network, language areas, and subsets of the mirror neuron system—tended to be similar among people who shared the same interpretation, but different from those of people with an opposing interpretation. Furthermore, the difference in neural responses between the two groups at each moment was correlated with the magnitude of the difference in the interpretation of the narrative. This study demonstrates that brain responses to the same event tend to cluster together among people who share the same views.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
Author Contributions: Y. Yeshurun and U. Hasson developed the study concept. Y. Yeshurun, C. J. Honey, and U. Hasson designed the study. Data were collected by Y. Yeshurun and J. Chen. Data were analyzed by Y. Yeshurun, S. Swanson, C. Lazaridi, and E. Simony. Y. Yeshurun and U. Hasson drafted the manuscript, and C. J. Honey and J. Chen provided critical revisions. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797616682029