Science andreligionhave eventually found a vulgar stake : the human brain . New research reveals theneuroscience behind intense religious experiences , suggesting that minute of spiritual enlightenment are coordinate by the same mind circuit that become activated when we fall in erotic love , have sex , listen to music or take drug .
" Religious experience is perhaps the most influential part of how people make decisiveness that pretend all of us , for practiced and for ill . Understanding what happens in the brain to contribute to those decisions is really important , ” said study co - writer Jeff Anderson of the University of Utah ’s School of Medicine , in astatement .
To cypher out how faith affects neurological activity , the researcher used functional charismatic resonance imaging ( fMRI ) to scan the brain of 19 devout Mormons , all of whom were former missionaries , as they performed tasks designed to arouse spiritual feelings . These included listening to Reading from the Book of Mormon and watching videos of Biblical scenes .
During the experimentation , participants were regularly expect if they were “ feel the liveliness ” , identified as a feeling of serenity and parsimoniousness with God in oneself and others , and instructed to weightlift a button when they reached a peak phantasmal whiz .
Describing their finding in the journalSocial Neuroscience , the researchers write that instant of intense religious experience tended to be characterized by a solid activating in a brain region called the core accumbens . As part of the brain’sreward circuit , this area is intemperately convoluted in producing feelings of pleasure in reply to stimuli likesex , music , food for thought and drug .
The study author also happen activation in the median prefrontal cortex , which is involved in higher cognitive subroutine like logical thinking . This suggests that religious experience are partially produced by witting sagaciousness and attribution of value to religious stimulus , meaning people of religious belief actively choose their beliefs .
engrossing as these findings may be , the field of study author warn against tie too many determination , and mention that spiritual experiences can differ hugely between individuals and finish , and are therefore probable to have a wide range of neurological reason and consequences .
