DOUBT NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, MASS-COMMUNICATION AND SKEPTICISM

Abstract

The prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder is increasing. A key symptom, doubt, could partly be due to the effects, on the cerebral cortex, of contradictory information in the mass media. The computational model of the neocortex developed by D. Mumford is summarized, as well as positron emission tomography studies of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The cognitive neuropsychology of political skepticism is discussed. The prevalence of skepticism towards traditional political parties is also increasing in postmaterial society, as documented by R. Inglehart. Brain imaging studies of specific symptoms such as doubt, delusions and apathy are needed to better understand the neurobiological correlates of social behavior in an era of ever increasing information flows.