Preferential Biases for Texts That Include Neuroscientific Jargon
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 20, 2026

Imaging and Quantification of Intact Neuronal Dendrites via CLARITY Tissue Clearing
Published on: April 20, 2021
Marco E Tabacchi1, Maurizio Cardaci2
1Istituto Nazionale di Ricerche Demopolis, Italy; DMI, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy marcoelio.tabacchi@unipa.it.
Abstract:
The results of an experiment of preferential biases for texts that include neuroscientific jargon are presented. Such preferential bias has been reported even when the presented jargon is meaningless. In a variation of the well-known Weisberg et al. experiment, a group of undergraduate students (N = 150; females 48%, males 52%, other 0%; M age = 22.4 year, SD = 2.6) chose between two possible explanations for a psychological phenomenon: a correct explanation or a circular restatement of facts. Unrelated neuroscientific terms were added to one of the explanations. Participants were asked to choose the correct explanation. There was a statistically significant preference for the explanation without neuroscientific terms. These findings differ from Weisberg et al.'s experiment and a number of others. The implications of this discrepancy are discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Neuronal Communication
Neuroplasticity
Anatomical Terminology
Classification of Neurotransmitters
Nervous Tissue: Neuron Types
Structurally, neurons are categorized into three main types: multipolar, bipolar, and unipolar (or pseudounipolar). Multipolar neurons, which are the most common type in the brain and spinal cord, as well as all motor neurons, possess multiple dendrites and a single axon.
Bipolar neurons, on the other hand, have one primary dendrite and one axon. They are...
Neurons: The Axon
The axon attaches to the cell body at a cone-shaped elevation called the axon hillock. The initial part of the axon, closest to the hillock, is known as the initial segment....

