NEW YORK, USA, June 27, 2008: False beliefs are everywhere. Eighteen percent of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth, one poll has found. The effort to correct misbeliefs may be more difficult than it seems, thanks to the quirky way in which our brains store memories — and mislead us along the way.
The brain does not simply gather and stockpile information as a computer’s hard drive does. Facts are stored first in the hippocampus, a structure deep in the brain about the size and shape of a fat man’s curled pinkie finger. But the information does not rest there. Every time we recall it, our brain writes it down again, and during this re-storage, it is also reprocessed. In time, the fact is gradually transferred to the cerebral cortex and is separated from the context in which it was originally learned. For example, you may know the capital of the USA is Washington, DC, but you probably don’t remember how you learned it.
In one study, a group of Stanford students was exposed repeatedly to an unsubstantiated claim that Coca-Cola is an effective paint thinner. Students who read the statement repeatedly were nearly one-third more likely to attribute it to a credible source. Apparently, the study confirm the theory from Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, J. Goebbels, who said a lie repeated enough times becomes the truth.
Adding to this innate tendency to mold information is the way our brains fit facts into established mental frameworks. We tend to remember news that accords with our worldview, and discount statements that contradict it.
The secret to use your brain well, it seems, is open-mindedness. In the same study, when subjects were asked to imagine their reaction if evidence pointed to the opposite conclusion, they were later more open-minded to information that contradicted their beliefs. Apparently, it pays for consumers of controversial news to take a moment and consider that the opposite interpretation may be true.