Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The world is full of baseless conspiracy theories. These theories are popular in part because they’re designed to take advantage of key neural processes, like our brains’ tendency to identify patterns and prioritize information that supports our preexisting beliefs. Research suggests people who believe conspiracy theories are more confident in their ability to predict random events and identify patterns when there aren’t any.
It’s possible dopamine plays a role in this phenomenon, too. This chemical helps reinforce our beliefs and update our forward-looking expectations. Some conditions, like paranoia and psychosis, can cause the brain to make too much dopamine. And when people in one study received artificial boosts of dopamine, they were more likely to “see” nonexistent patterns, although participants who already believed in conspiracy theories saw little changes to their pattern recognition ability.
This is a video from the 2024 Brain Awareness Video Contest:brainfacts.org/for-educators/programs-and-events/brain-awareness-video-contest
Created by Renata Sadretdinova.
The world is full of baseless conspiracy theories. These theories are popular in part because they’re designed to take advantage of key neural processes, like our brains’ tendency to identify patterns and prioritize information that supports our preexisting beliefs. Research suggests people who believe conspiracy theories are more confident in their ability to predict random events and identify patterns when there aren’t any.
It’s possible dopamine plays a role in this phenomenon, too. This chemical helps reinforce our beliefs and update our forward-looking expectations. Some conditions, like paranoia and psychosis, can cause the brain to make too much dopamine. And when people in one study received artificial boosts of dopamine, they were more likely to “see” nonexistent patterns, although participants who already believed in conspiracy theories saw little changes to their pattern recognition ability.
This is a video from the 2024 Brain Awareness Video Contest:brainfacts.org/for-educators/programs-and-events/brain-awareness-video-contest
Created by Renata Sadretdinova.
