Sensing spirits and other dangerous beings : how uncertainty makes us feel the unseen presence

NENADALOVÁ, Jana. Sensing spirits and other dangerous beings : how uncertainty makes us feel the unseen presence. In CES 2022 (Cultural Evolution Society), 21-23 September, Aarhus, Denmark. 2022.

Základní údaje

Originální název

Sensing spirits and other dangerous beings : how uncertainty makes us feel the unseen presence

Autoři

NENADALOVÁ, Jana

Vydání

CES 2022 (Cultural Evolution Society), 21-23 September, Aarhus, Denmark, 2022

---

Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Prezentace na konferencích

Obor

60304 Religious studies

Stát vydavatele

Dánsko

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Odkazy

URL

Organizační jednotka

Filozofická fakulta

Klíčová slova anglicky

sensed presence; sensory deprivation; predictive processing; agency detection

Příznaky

Mezinárodní význam, Recenzováno

---

Anotace

V originále

The human propensity to detect agents, not really present around is one of the oldest problems in CESR. But is there any causal connection with uncertainty? In the study, I was inducing via sensory deprivation a specific kind of such experience, i.e., the “Unpleasant Feeling of Sensed Presence” (UFoP), using the predictive processing theory. UFoP was induced by 0.5h sensory (visual, auditory) deprivation trial, manipulating expectations about the being that could come during the process (using semantic priming), measuring biological data (PPG, EDA), capturing experience via post-deprivation surveys and interviews, and controlling for two psychological dispositions: imaginative suggestibility and fantasy proneness. The main predictor of UFoP experience was felt uncertainty, moderated by suggestibility (but not by fantasy proneness), while semantic priming had no effect. In my paper, I will further discuss if – under the condition of greater uncertainty – a) humans generally tend to detect agents due to evolved hyperpriors for the agent-related fear, b) we tend to (falsely) predict the presence of other agents because agents are the main source of uncertainty in our environments.

---

Návaznosti

MUNI/IGA/1264/2020, interní kód MU

Název: Sensing the dark: Experimental research of sensory deprivation experience (SENSIO) (Akronym: SENSIO) Investor: Masarykova univerzita, Sensing the dark: Experimental research of sensory deprivation experience (SENSIO)