Personal Values Color Understanding Of Sentences Within Milliseconds

And it seems that fate kindly tossed up a freebie for my first day of blogging. All the more reason why we do not, and cannot, know.

The researchers conclude that existing views and beliefs influence our understanding of language before we even fully process a sentence. This research sheds new light on the way the human brain processes language: instead of reading carefully before forming an opinion, the brain responds intuitively within a mere 200 milliseconds of having more or less grasped what the sentence fragment read so far is suggesting. This response then influences further interpretation. In addition to its significance to language researchers, the study also opens up new avenues for scientific research on how political and ethical beliefs affect our thought processes.

If I'm reading this correctly, one of the chemical responses that occurs in the mind is actually the same as when you hear something that you believe is impossible or at least very unlikely. That's incredible.

The N400 effect is a well-known brain response to an unlikely or impossible meaning (for example, ‘I’m drinking a pizza’). Unlike previous studies, the effect here was determined by the participant’s political and ethical beliefs: statements that were entirely acceptable to one participant proved problematic for others, evoking a strong emotional response. This effect of personal value systems had never been identified before....

The ‘unlikely meaning’ response (N400) could only be clearly identified when participants were given a statement they strongly disagreed with. Further studies will have to be conducted to identify the exact cause of this phenomenon.