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  1. The boundary conditions of the hypersensitive agency detection device
    an empirical investigation of agency detection in threatening situations
    Author: Maij, David L. R.; Elk, Michiel van; Schie, Hein T. van
    Published: 2019

    It has been hypothesized that humans have evolved a hypersensitivity to detect intentional agents at a perceptual level, as failing to detect these agents may potentially be more harmful than incorrectly assuming that agents are absent. Following... more

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    Index theologicus der Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen
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    It has been hypothesized that humans have evolved a hypersensitivity to detect intentional agents at a perceptual level, as failing to detect these agents may potentially be more harmful than incorrectly assuming that agents are absent. Following this logic, ambiguous threatening situations should lead people to falsely detect the presence of agents. In six threat-inducing experiments (N = 233) we have investigated whether threat induction increases agent detection. We operationalized human agent detection by means of a Biological Motion Detection Task (Experiments 1 and 2) and an Auditory Agent Detection Task (Experiment 4). Intentionality detection was operationalized by means of a Geometrical Figures Task (Experiment 3). Threat manipulations that were either weak (threatening pictures, classical horror music) or moderate (virtual reality) did not increase false human agent or intentionality detection. Moreover, participants generally had a response bias towards assuming that agents were absent (Experiments 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, and 4). Further, agent and intentionality detection measures were unrelated to individual differences in supernatural beliefs, although they were related to the negativity bias. This study reveals the boundary conditions under which the agent and intentionality detection is not intensified and provides recommendations for future research.

     
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    Source: Union catalogues
    Language: English
    Media type: Article (journal)
    Format: Online
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    Parent title: Enthalten in: Religion, brain & behavior; London [u.a.] : Routledge, 2011; 9(2019), 1, Seite 23-51; Online-Ressource

    Subjects: Hypersensitive agency detection device; agent detection; cognitive science of religion; error management theory; evolutionary psychology; intentionality detection
  2. Agency detection in predictive minds
    a virtual reality study
    Author: Andersen, Marc; Schjødt, Uffe; Müller, Sebastian; Pfeiffer, Thies
    Published: [2019]

    Since its inception, explaining the cognitive foundations governing sensory experiences of supernatural agents has been a central topic in the cognitive science of religion. Following recent developments in perceptual psychology, this pre-registered... more

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    Since its inception, explaining the cognitive foundations governing sensory experiences of supernatural agents has been a central topic in the cognitive science of religion. Following recent developments in perceptual psychology, this pre-registered study examines the effects of expectations and sensory reliability on agency detection. Participants were instructed to detect beings in a virtual forest. Results reveal that participants expecting a high probability of encountering an agent in the forest are much more likely to make false detections than participants expecting a low probability of such encounters. Furthermore, low sensory reliability increases the false detection rate compared to high sensory reliability, but this effect is much smaller than the effect of expectations. While previous accounts of agency detection have speculated that false detections of agents may give rise to or strengthen religious beliefs, our results suggest that the reverse direction of causality may also be true. Religious teachings may first produce expectations in believers, which in turn elicit false detections of agents. These experiences may subsequently work to confirm the teachings and narratives upon which the values of a given culture are built.

     
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    Source: Union catalogues
    Language: English
    Media type: Article (journal)
    Format: Online
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    Parent title: Enthalten in: Religion, brain & behavior; London [u.a.] : Routledge, 2011; 9(2019), 1, Seite 52-64; Online-Ressource

    Subjects: Agency Detection; HADD; cognitive science of religion; perception; predictive processing; religious teachings; virtual reality
  3. Predictive coding in agency detection
    Author: Andersen, Marc
    Published: [2019]

    Agency detection is a central concept in the cognitive science of religion (CSR). Experimental studies, however, have so far failed to lend support to some of the most common predictions that follow from current theories on agency detection. In this... more

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    Index theologicus der Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen
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    Agency detection is a central concept in the cognitive science of religion (CSR). Experimental studies, however, have so far failed to lend support to some of the most common predictions that follow from current theories on agency detection. In this article, I argue that predictive coding, a highly promising new framework for understanding perception and action, may solve pending theoretical inconsistencies in agency detection research, account for the puzzling experimental findings mentioned above, and provide hypotheses for future experimental testing. Predictive coding explains how the brain, unbeknownst to consciousness, engages in sophisticated Bayesian statistics in an effort to constantly predict the hidden causes of sensory input. My fundamental argument is that most false positives in agency detection can be seen as the result of top-down interference in a Bayesian system generating high prior probabilities in the face of unreliable stimuli, and that such a system can better account for the experimental evidence than previous accounts of a dedicated agency detection system. Finally, I argue that adopting predictive coding as a theoretical framework has radical implications for the effects of culture on the detection of supernatural agency and a range of other religious and spiritual perceptual phenomena.

     
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    Source: Union catalogues
    Language: English
    Media type: Article (journal)
    Format: Online
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    Parent title: Enthalten in: Religion, brain & behavior; London [u.a.] : Routledge, 2011; 9(2019), 1, Seite 65-84; Online-Ressource

    Subjects: Agency detection; HADD; cognitive science of religion; epidemiology; perception; predictive coding; religion; supernatural agents