Dipartimento di Medicina dei Sistemi & CBMS, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy.
Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS UMR 5229, Bron, France.
Conscious Cogn. 2019 Oct;75:102822. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102822. Epub 2019 Sep 23.
Persistence of superstitions in the modern era could be justified by considering them as a by-product of the brain's capacity to detect associations and make assumptions about cause-effect relationships. This ability, which supports predictive behaviour, directly relates to associative learning. We tested whether variability in superstitious behaviour reflects individual variability in the efficiency of mechanisms akin to habit learning. Forty-eight individuals performed a Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) or an Implicit Cuing Task (ICT). In the SRTT, participants were exposed to a hidden sequence and progressively learnt to optimize responses, a process akin to skill learning. In the ICT participants met with a hidden association, which (if detected) provided a benefit (cf. habit learning). An index of superstitious beliefs was also collected. A correlation emerged between susceptibility to personal superstitions and performance at the ICT only. This novel finding is discussed in view of current ideas on how superstitions are instated.
在现代社会，迷信的持续存在可以被认为是大脑检测关联和对因果关系做出假设的能力的副产品。这种支持预测行为的能力与联想学习直接相关。我们测试了迷信行为的可变性是否反映了类似于习惯学习的机制效率的个体可变性。48 个人执行了序列反应时间任务 (SRTT) 或内隐提示任务 (ICT)。在 SRTT 中，参与者接触到一个隐藏的序列，并逐渐学会优化反应，这个过程类似于技能学习。在 ICT 中，参与者遇到了一个隐藏的关联，如果被发现，就会提供好处（类似于习惯学习）。还收集了迷信信仰的指标。个人迷信的易感性与 ICT 中的表现之间出现了相关性。这一新颖的发现是在当前关于迷信是如何产生的观点的基础上讨论的。
