Does Body Chemistry Make You Gullible?

A new study finds that dopamine can make you dopey
Time, Friday, Jul. 26, 2002
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/article/0,9565,331956,00.html

Over the years, as a confirmed skeptic, I’ve not been too charitable to purveyors of the paranormal. Israeli “psychic” Uri Geller has felt the sting of my columns, as has medium John Edward, who claims he is in touch with our dearly departed. I’ve ridiculed believers in Therapeutic Touch and Alien Abductions, and made light of those who insist that UFOs are visitors from other worlds.

Now I’m feeling a little guilty. It turns out that these poor souls, as well as the millions who hold similar beliefs, really can’t help themselves. It’s their body chemistry that makes them so gullible. At least that’s the conclusion reached by a group of Swiss neurologists who had previously suggested that those who believe in the paranormal seem to be more willing than skeptics to see patterns or relationships between events.

To discover what might be triggering these irrational connections, the researchers report in the British journal New Scientist, they persuaded 20 admitted believers and 20 adamant skeptics to take part in an experiment. First the scientists briefly flashed faces and scrambled faces on a screen, then real words and pseudo words. It quickly became evident that the believers were much more likely to see a real word or face when there wasn’t one.

The Swiss scientists then gave all of the volunteers a dose of L-dopa, which is widely used to relieve symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease by increasing the levels of dopamine in the brain. The drug caused both groups to make more mistakes, but the skeptics became more likely to interpret the scrambled faces and words as the real thing.

To the researchers, these results suggest that paranormal thoughts are associated with high levels of dopamine in the brain and that L-dopa makes skeptics less skeptical.

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