{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,17]],"date-time":"2026-10-17T21:33:25Z","timestamp":1792272805277,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":73,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,9]],"date-time":"2024-03-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1709942400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Project\u2010ID 402170461 \u2010 TRR 265"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Project\u2010ID 402170461 \u2010 TRR 265"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002347","name":"Bundesministerium f\u00fcr Bildung und Forschung","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["01GQ1003B"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01GQ1003B"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002347","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100008661","name":"Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["WIN programme"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["WIN programme"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100008661","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Psychophysiology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>Belief, defined by William James as the mental state or function of cognizing reality, is a core psychological function with strong influence on emotion and behavior. Furthermore, strong and aberrant beliefs about the world and oneself play important roles in mental disorders. The underlying processes of belief have been the matter of a long debate in philosophy and psychology, and modern neuroimaging techniques can provide insight into the underlying neural processes. Here, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study with <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u200930 healthy participants in which we presented statements about facts, politics, religion, conspiracy theories, and superstition. Participants judged whether they considered them as true (belief) or not (disbelief) and reported their certainty in the decision. We found belief\u2010associated activations in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left superior parietal cortex, and left lateral frontopolar cortex. Disbelief\u2010associated activations were found in an anterior temporal cluster extending into the amygdala. We found a larger deactivation for disbelief than belief in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex that was most pronounced during decisions, suggesting a role of the vmPFC in belief\u2010related decision\u2010making. As a category\u2010specific effect, we found disbelief\u2010associated activation in retrosplenial cortex and parahippocampal gyrus for conspiracy theory statements. Exploratory analyses identified networks centered at anterior cingulate cortex for certainty, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex for uncertainty. The uncertainty effect identifies a neural substrate for Alexander Bain's notion from 1859 of uncertainty as the real opposite of belief. Taken together, our results suggest a two\u2010factor neural process model of belief with falsehood\/veracity and uncertainty\/certainty factors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/psyp.14561","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,9]],"date-time":"2024-03-09T03:14:36Z","timestamp":1709954076000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["The truth is in there: Belief processes in the human brain"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"61","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3071-5296","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martin Fungisai","family":"Gerchen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health Heidelberg University\/Medical Faculty Mannheim  Mannheim Germany"},{"name":"Department of Psychology Heidelberg University  Heidelberg Germany"},{"name":"Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Heidelberg\/Mannheim  Mannheim Germany"},{"name":"Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities  Heidelberg Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carina","family":"Glock","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health Heidelberg University\/Medical Faculty Mannheim  Mannheim Germany"},{"name":"Department of Psychology Heidelberg University  Heidelberg Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Franziska","family":"Weiss","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health Heidelberg University\/Medical Faculty Mannheim  Mannheim Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Kirsch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health Heidelberg University\/Medical Faculty Mannheim  Mannheim Germany"},{"name":"Department of Psychology Heidelberg University  Heidelberg Germany"},{"name":"Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Heidelberg\/Mannheim  Mannheim Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_9_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pnpbp.2013.07.016"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.schres.2021.01.023"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fnins.2012.00100"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.2602\u201017.2017"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/10617-000"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/da.20036"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psychres.2018.08.070"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/123.11.2189"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_10_1","unstructured":"Beierlein C. Asbrock F. Kauff M. &Schmidt P.(2015 January 5).Die Kurzskala Autoritarismus (KSA\u20103).GESIS Working Papers 2014."},{"key":"e_1_2_9_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.0041\u201013.2013"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_12_1","volume-title":"Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkte","author":"Brentano F.","year":"1874"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2009.01.064"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0022\u20105371(69)80069\u20101"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.concog.2020.102935"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_16_1","volume-title":"Descartes' error","author":"Damasio A. R.","year":"1994"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/schbul\/sbx177"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.30820\/9783837966367"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_19_1","volume-title":"Meditations on first philosophy in which are demonstrated the existence of God and the distinction between the human soul and body","author":"Descartes R.","year":"1641"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_20_1","volume-title":"Principles of philosophy","author":"Descartes R.","year":"1644"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_21_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2013.00392"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_22_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biopsych.2023.03.007"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/cercor\/bhl176"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_24_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2022.118954"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0003\u2010066X.46.2.107"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0022\u20103514.59.4.601"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_27_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/\/0022\u20103514.65.2.221"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_28_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0022\u20105371(74)80061\u20107"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_29_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/s0010\u20100277(02)00185\u20103"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_30_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brainres.2006.04.024"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_31_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2020.0138"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_32_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2017.05.035"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_33_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0007272"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_34_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/ana.21301"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_35_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0956\u20107976.2005.01576.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_36_1","volume-title":"BDI\u2010II. Beck\u2010Depressions\u2010Inventar Revision \u2013 Manual","author":"Hautzinger M.","year":"2006"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_37_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/adb.12866"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_38_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0124596"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_39_1","unstructured":"Hume D.(1748[1902]).An enquiry concerning human understanding.https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/9662\/9662\u2010h\/9662\u2010h.htm#section5"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_40_1","first-page":"334","volume-title":"Psychologische und sozialwissenschaftliche Kurzskalen","author":"Imhoff R.","year":"2013"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_41_1","volume-title":"The principles of psychology","author":"James W.","year":"1890"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_42_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3758\/bf03213183"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_43_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/srep39589"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_44_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jneumeth.2016.10.019"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_45_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.0895\u201022.2022"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_46_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fncom.2014.00055"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_47_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/0020174X.2014.858417"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_48_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598\u2010020\u201061522\u20100"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_49_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cortex.2008.07.004"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_50_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuropsychologia.2016.06.019"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_51_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2011.11.003"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_52_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nelson R. E.(1977).Irrational beliefs in depression.https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0022\u2010006X.45.6.1190","DOI":"10.1037\/\/0022-006X.45.6.1190"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_53_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.4956\u201014.2015"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_54_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2012.07.009"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_55_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.1010012"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_56_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpsychires.2015.08.011"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_57_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/scan\/nsq033"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_58_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2011.05.014"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_59_1","unstructured":"Russell B.(1921).The analysis of mind.https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/2529\/2529\u2010h\/2529\u2010h.htm"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_60_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/j.1440\u20101614.2005.01680.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_61_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0005\u20107967(85)90105\u20106"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_62_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.1778\u201013.2013"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_63_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fnbeh.2022.880504"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_64_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/revneuro\u20102012\u20100034"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_65_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1162\/jocn_a_01292"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_66_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S1355617709990348"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_67_1","unstructured":"Spinoza B.(1677).Ethics Part 2 Of the nature and origin of the mind.https:\/\/www.faculty.umb.edu\/gary_zabel\/Courses\/Spinoza\/Texts\/Spinoza\/e2g.htm"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_68_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2018.05.074"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_69_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/awr050"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_70_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0031\u20109384(02)00930\u20107"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_71_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1162\/08989290260045800"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_72_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nrn2733"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_73_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/scan\/nss042"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_74_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2021.118109"}],"container-title":["Psychophysiology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/psyp.14561","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T04:31:14Z","timestamp":1760157074000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/psyp.14561"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,9]]},"references-count":73,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,7]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1111\/psyp.14561"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/psyp.14561","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["0048-5772","1469-8986"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0048-5772","type":"print"},{"value":"1469-8986","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,9]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2023-05-17","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2024-02-26","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2024-03-09","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"e14561"}}