New Scientist: Religion alters visual perception
November 23, 2008
New Scientist just published a report on a study by Leiden University’s Bernhard Hommel, in which he shows that Dutch Calvinists are able to pick out shapes from a confusing background quicker than athiests of similar cultural backgrounds.
“This could reflect a greater focus on self than external distractions for Calvinists, says Hommel. He suggests it may even be a cognitive consequence of their religion and speculates that Calvinists might be more inward looking than atheists because they have lived their whole lives with an emphasis on minding their own business.
Hommel plans to give the same test to Catholics, as well as Muslims and Jews, but he must first figure out how to eliminate other cultural differences that could mask any insights. ‘It doesn’t make any sense to compare Iranian Muslims with Dutch atheists,’ he says.”
Does this mean that religious people see things more clearly? You be the judge.
Dave
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: atheist, calvinism, christian, cognition, hommel, jewish, muslim, new scientist, psychology, religion, science, vision.
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1. anotherworldcitizen | November 23rd, 2008 at 9:23 pm
That is pretty neat. I wonder how that would work.
2. Sho Fumimura | February 22nd, 2009 at 4:22 am
I think it comes to habitual practices. Prayers, meditations, and other spiritual disciplines help trained your mind/heart. Many religious folks are also accustomed to looking at symbols and see additional dimensions of a mundane object/event. Having said that, being atheists I’d assume, shouldn’t stop one from being insightful.