The Science of the Spiritual Brain
Do religious experiences come from God, or is it simply a random firing of neurons creating a sensation within the brain? Researchers are working to determine just that through various studies such as the concept of Neurotheology, a study done on Carmelite nuns, and through discussion of the God Helmet method as well as the placebo effect along with it. It will also briefly discuss brain changes that are related to religion.
Neurotheology focuses on the fact that human beings are the only living species on the planet that are known to practice religion. Furthermore every known nation on the earth practices some sort of religious practice or spiritual belief. Neurotheology works to determine what it is that makes our brains different so that we may practice spirituality (Mcllhenny).
As some people are deeply religious, it is seemingly reasonable to think their brain processes are different than that of an unbeliever, therefore causing something interesting to be going on in the brain. Neurotheology is a way in which neural correlations of religion and spirituality are investigated, attempting to uncover why some people are spiritual and others are skeptical, as religious experiences and temporary changes in the brain can be detected all over the brain (Newberg).
Similar to emotional experiences, religious experiences utilize multiple parts of the brain, therefore there may not be a one single part of the brain responsible for spirituality and a relationship with God. Through experiences with a brain scanner testing Carmelite nuns, there was activation of the brain detected in various areas such as right medial orbitofrontal cortex, right middle temporal cortex, right inferior and superior parietal lobules, right caudate, left medial prefrontal cortex, left anterior cingulate cortex, left inferior parietal lobe, left insula, left caudate, and left brainstem. A similar study was constructed on Mormons using an fMRI, finding activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and frontal attention regions, areas often times associated with reward (Wlassoff). The below image shows some of the regions of the brain mentioned as well as others.
Further Neurotheology studies have found that the intense religious experiences are associated with the limbic parts of the brain that play a role in emotional and intuitive experiences. The thalamus plays a part in clarity and the regulation of reality utilized in religious experiences. The parietal lobe provides the sense of unity, and during spiritual experiences this part of the brain decreases in its activity as the brain is no longer working to separate self from not-self in space, and the parietal lobe helps to locate our bodies in space. The frontal lobes were determined by this researcher to be responsible for the sense of surrender that often goes along with religion and spiritual experiences (Newberg).
Researcher Mario Beauregard on the other hand found that “ religious experiences have a non-material origin, making a convincing case for what many in scientific fields are loath to consider — that it is God who creates our spiritual experiences, not the brain” (Beauregard, O’ Leary). He believes that the research stating brains are hardwired for religion is misguided and narrow minded, as they are reducing what going on in a spiritual experience to religious phenomena, having major issues with the concept of the God Helmet which will be discussed later in this summary. To state that the brain is simply hardwired for religion would fall under what Beauregard calls scientific materialism as it is “ at a loss to explain irrefutable accounts of mind over matter, of intuition, willpower, and leaps of faith, of the “placebo effect” in medicine, of near-death experiences on the operating table, and of psychic premonitions of a loved one in crisis, to say nothing of the occasional sense of oneness with nature and mystical experiences in meditation or prayer” (Beauregard, O’ Leary). He strives to learn more about what is going on in the brain during spiritual experiences and whether or not they can be linked to the brain or rather point to the possibility of there being a real God out there, and that the cause may not be explainable.
The God Helmet was created by researcher Michael Persinger to induce spiritual experiences in the participants through stimulation of the temporal lobes with magnetic emissions, studying the effect of the minds electromagnetic stimulation on the temporal lobes in relation to religious or spiritual experiences (McKay). Similarly, many placebo experiments have been constructed to compare the reactions to a placebo helmet to Persinger’s actual God Helmet. “Placebo brain stimulation can function as an experimental tool to elicit mystical and quasi-mystical (i.e., extraordinary) experiences. However, it has not yet been investigated whether these effects result from mere sensory deprivation and individual differences in suggestibility, or whether expectancy manipulations are crucial in eliciting these effects… extraordinary experiences could be systematically manipulated by means of an expectancy manipulation using a within-subjects design, while controlling for suggestibility effects,” (Maij).
One study constructed through the usage of the God Helmet studied the effect a placebo God Helmet had in the presence of EEG. The study used somatosensory evoked potentials, recording them from EEG signals. At a neural level, the study focused on the EEG frequency spectrum during the induction phase, the SEP amplitudes, and auditory suppression. the induction occurred when the lights were dimmed and white noise was presented over the loud speakers. They found that “ belief in the effectiveness of the helmet — which was actually measured following the placebo helmet induction phase — was also strongly correlated with induced spiritual experiences. Accordingly, it could well be that individual differences in absorption and magical ideation were predictive of induced spiritual experiences,” (Van Elk).
A more recent study utilizing the concept of the God Helmet was constructed at a Dutch music festival. They tested 193 volunteers, however they did not use a true God helmet, but rather tested the placebo effect of it through the use of a faux God Helmet. The users were given headphones and listened to white noise, and were instructed to press a button during any unusual experience. Those who clicked said they felt experiences such as floating, saw visions, had itching sensations, heart palpitations, or degrees of dizziness. The researchers found that those who said they were spiritual believers prior to the experience felt the different sensations more than those who do not believe in spirituality themselves. They also found that the alcohol had little to no impact on the experience, and because of that they want to construct further research on the effects of alcohol on spirituality (Seaburn).
Nevertheless, with all of these tests focusing on the placebo effect of the God Helmet, we are brought back to the question Beauregard was addressing, whether or not the brain is hardwired for religion. Though Persinger gained much attention from the God Helmet, it is still a question of whether one can simply flip the switch and experience religion or not. Scientists are working to determine if there is an evolutionary reason for why brains are receptive to religious experiences, using Persinger’s theory of the God helmet to try and explain it. Persinger believed that naturally occurring electromagnetic fields can also cause religious experiences, backing his reason for thinking the God Helmet can induce those experiences, showing that some but not all brains and naturally predisposed to these experiences, but since all brains can experience this stimulation, they are all to a degree hardwired to experience religion potentially (Edmonds).
Another way researches have explored with regards to religion and the brain are the ways they brain may change to develop resilience to depression when they experience different degrees of religion and spirituality. “[their] findings suggest that the reported high importance of [religion or spirituality]beliefs may have effects on white matter integrity in the bilateral frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and parietal lobe, particularly the bilateral precuneus. While these regions are also associated with risk of developing [depression], reorganization of white matter through [religion or spirituality]may help protect individuals from going on to develop the illness,” (Dolan). The study used a diffusion tensor imaging method to explore microstructural changes in families at high risk for depression, tracking changes related to religion and spirituality.
All in all, there are many theories both supporting and against the relationship between spirituality and the brain. Research is still breaking the waves and has a long way to go to become conclusive to determine if the brain in hardwired for religion, what causes spiritual experiences, and how they can be pinpointed in the brain.
Sources:
Beauregard, M., & O’Leary, D. (2007). The spiritual brain: A neuroscientist’s case for the existence of the soul. San Francisco, CA, US: HarperOne/HarperCollins.
Dolan, E. W. (2019). Brain changes related to religion and spirituality could confer resilience to depression. (2019, February 03). Retrieved from https://www.psypost.org/2019/02/brain-changes-related-to-religion-and-spirituality-could-confer-resilience-to-depression-53074
Edmonds, M. (2018, March 08). Is the brain hardwired for religion? Retrieved from https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/brain-religion2.htm
McKay, R. (2014). Religion and Agency. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 2(2), 93–96. https://doi-org.ezproxy.loras.edu/10.1558/jcsr.v2i2.28574
Maij, D. L. R., & van Elk, M. (2018). Getting absorbed in experimentally induced extraordinary experiences: Effects of placebo brain stimulation on agency detection. Consciousness & Cognition, 66, 1–16. https://doi-org.ezproxy.loras.edu/10.1016/j.concog.2018.09.010
McIlhenny, R. (2015). A Revolution In Mind: Andrew Newberg’s Principles Of Neurotheology. American Theological Inquiry, 8(1), 81–84. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.loras.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=108711305&site=ehost-live
NEWBERG, A. B. (2017). How Does the Brain Experience God? INTERVIEW ON NEUROTHEOLOGY WITH ANDREW B. NEWBERG. Sufi, (93), 30–37. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.loras.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=127730941&site=ehost-live
Seaburn, P., Seaburn, P., Seaburn, P., Wright, A., & Seaburn, P. (2018, January 23). Test of ‘God Helmet’ at Music Fest Yields Strange Results. Retrieved from https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2018/01/test-of-god-helmet-at-music-fest-yields-strange-results/
Wlassoff, V. (n.d.). God in the Brain: The Science of Neurotheology. Retrieved from http://www.brainblogger.com/2017/11/19/god-in-the-brain-the-science-of-neurotheology/
Van Elk, M. (2014). An EEG Study on the Effects of Induced Spiritual Experiences on Somatosensory Processing and Sensory Suppression. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 2(2), 121–157. https://doi-org.ezproxy.loras.edu/10.1558/jcsr.v2i2.24573
