Paranormal believers are more quickly and less accurate in rejecting the presence of the target in conjunction visual search compared to skeptics

Recent studies have shown that paranormal believers may exhibit cognitive dysfunctions, yet their performance in conjunction visual search has not been understood. To address this issue, we examined the performance of both paranormal believers and skeptics in a conjunction visual search task, with particular attention to their search time and accuracy across different set sizes in both target-present (TP) and target-absent (TA) trials. In our study, believers demonstrated a tendency toward fast but also displayed carelessness compared to skeptics when rejecting the presence of the target. Conversely, skeptics exhibited slower search times but showcased greater accuracy both in rejecting the presence of the target and in finding it. Overall, our findings suggest that believers were more quickly and less accurate in rejecting the presence of the target in conjunction visual search compared to skeptics, highlighting potential differences in cognitive processing between the skeptics and believers.