Brugger Peter, Viaud-Delmon Isabelle
Neuropsychology Unit, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2010;12(2):250-4. doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2010.12.2/pbrugger.
It has been speculated that superstitiousness and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exist along a continuum. The distinction between superstitious behavior and superstitious belief, however, is crucial for any theoretical account of claimed associations between superstitiousness and OCD. By demonstrating that there is a dichotomy between behavior and belief, which is experimentally testable, we can differentiate superstitious behavior from superstitious belief, or magical ideation. Different brain circuits are responsible for these two forms of superstitiousness; thus, determining which type of superstition is prominent in the symptomatology of an individual patient may inform us about the primarily affected neurocognitive systems.
有人推测，迷信与强迫症（OCD）处于一个连续体上。然而，迷信行为和迷信信念之间的区别，对于任何关于迷信与强迫症之间所谓关联的理论解释来说都至关重要。通过证明行为和信念之间存在二分法，且这种二分法可以通过实验进行检验，我们能够区分迷信行为与迷信信念，或魔法思维。不同的脑回路负责这两种形式的迷信；因此，确定个体患者症状学中哪种迷信类型较为突出，可能会让我们了解到主要受影响的神经认知系统。
