Can belief change the brain? We often think of beliefs as private thoughts, ideas about the world, ourselves, or something greater. But neuroscience shows they’re far more than opinions. Beliefs can actively shape how the brain works and, in some cases, even change its physical structure.
From altering what we see to influencing emotions, decisions, and even the wiring of brain networks, belief leaves a measurable mark. This article explores some of the lesser-known ways it does so, going beyond the familiar example of the placebo effect.
Belief Shapes What We See
The brain isn’t a passive camera recording reality. It’s a prediction machine, constantly guessing what’s about to happen and checking those guesses against incoming sensory data, a process called predictive coding (Barron et al., 2020).
What we expect can quietly influence what we perceive. Studies show expectations can alter activity in sensory brain regions, from the thalamus to the visual cortex (Rotem Botvinik-Nezer et al., 2025). Sometimes this means we process expected sights more efficiently; other times, the brain sharpens details it thinks are important.
In one study, volunteers were trained to expect certain visual patterns. Even after the patterns stopped appearing, brain scans revealed their brains still responded as though they were there (Yon et al., 2023). As Dr Daniel Yon put it: “Our beliefs continue to shape activity in our brains, even when our old expectations no longer come true” (Yon et al., 2023).
Long-Term Beliefs and Brain Structure
Some beliefs are held for years, even a lifetime. Whether it’s a religious faith, political ideology, or belief in personal growth, these can leave lasting physical traces in the brain.
Research has linked intense, life-changing religious experiences to reduced hippocampal volume, a region vital for memory and emotion (Owen et al., 2011; Newberg, 2025). This may be due to chronic stress rather than the belief itself.
But other belief-driven practices can strengthen the brain. Long-term meditation — often rooted in a belief in its value is linked to thicker brain regions involved in attention and sensory processing (Lazar et al., 2005; Calderone et al., 2024). These benefits appear strongest in older meditators, suggesting that belief-driven mental habits may help preserve brain health with age.
Self-Belief and Learning
Beliefs about ourselves can be especially powerful. Consider the “growth mindset” the belief that abilities can improve with effort. Students with this mindset show stronger brain responses to mistakes, focusing on what went wrong and how to improve (Dweck & Yeager, 2019).
Over time, this mindset strengthens brain networks linked to learning and self-control. In contrast, a fixed mindset, believing abilities are static, is linked to minimal brain response to errors, which reduces growth opportunities (Zeng, 2025).
Belief and Emotion
Beliefs also shape how we handle stress. Feeling in control, even if the control is limited, can reduce activity in fear-related brain regions such as the amygdala, while increasing activity in the frontal cortex, which supports coping (Kenwood et al., 2021).
This helps explain why telling yourself “I can do something about this” can feel calming. It’s not just a comforting thought; it’s a measurable brain response.
How Beliefs Bias Decisions
Our brains tend to favour information that confirms what we already believe, a tendency called confirmation bias. When we encounter belief-consistent information, the brain’s reward circuits light up, making it feel satisfying (Korteling et al., 2023; Simply Psychology, 2025).
Memory also plays along. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex tags belief-consistent details as relevant and stores them more readily (Aly, 2020). This makes our memories efficient but biased, and it’s one reason changing our minds can be so hard.
Why Beliefs Can Be Hard to Change
Changing a belief means rewiring the brain networks that support it, something the brain resists (Simply Psychology, 2025). Stability helps us avoid overreacting to every new piece of information, but it can also keep false beliefs alive.
In extreme cases, such as certain psychiatric conditions, belief-updating circuits may be impaired. For example, patients with damage to frontal and parietal areas became more rigid in their religious beliefs and less able to revise them (Zhong et al., 2017; Cristofori et al., 2022).
For most people, beliefs shift gradually either as evidence builds or through a conscious choice to stay open-minded. This openness is thought to rely on the prefrontal cortex (Asp et al., 2013).
The Takeaway
Beliefs aren’t just ideas floating in our heads; they’re active forces shaping perception, emotion, memory, and even brain structure. The brain gives rise to belief, but belief also shapes the brain in return.
This two-way relationship means that changing our beliefs can, quite literally, change our brains. The stories we tell ourselves aren’t only psychological; they’re biological, training the neural circuits that guide how we see, think, and feel.
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