Neural basis of attitude change motivated by cognitive dissonance: a scoping review

Cognitive dissonance theory proposes that relevant cognitive inconsistencies evoke negative affect, which may motivate cognitive and behavioral adaptations to reduce this perceived "dissonance" or incoherence. Among these adaptations, attitude change is of particular interest, and its neural bases are systematically reviewed in this paper for the first time. We followed the PRISMA-Scr (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines. Boolean searches combining terms describing the process (e.g., "cognitive dissonance" or "attitude change") with those related to brain activity recording or stimulation (e.g., "neuroimaging" or "electroencephalography") were conducted in the Medline, PsycInfo, and PsycArticles databases (last search: January 24, 2025). Only papers describing comparisons between high and low cognitive dissonance conditions, quantitative analyses of differences in attitudes, and the use of brain recording or stimulation techniques were included in the review. They reveal that cognitive dissonance detection, with the anterior cingulate cortex playing a particularly relevant role, facilitates attitude change. Subsequently, the process of updating the representation of the stimulus value (attitude change) appears to be linked to the activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which promotes changes in regions that encode the preferences of the stimuli, such as the ventral striatum. Future studies should explore unresolved issues, such as clarifying the role of the precuneus and anterior insula in attitude change.