The relationship between religious belief and the brain is a fascinating area of study. Researchers have long been interested in whether believing in God causes any measurable changes in brain structure and function. Recent advances in neuroimaging techniques have allowed scientists to take a closer look at what’s going on in the brains of believers.
Does believing in God alter brain structure?
Several neuroimaging studies have found differences in the volume or density of certain brain regions between religious believers and non-believers. For example:
- A 2010 meta-analysis by Armin Heine showed that parts of the frontal and parietal lobes, as well as the hippocampus, tend to be larger in believers compared to non-believers.
- A 2009 study by Owen and colleagues found greater hippocampal atrophy in elderly nuns compared to controls.
- In contrast, a 2019 study by Mandavilli and colleagues showed thicker cortices in several brain regions in Buddhist monks.
However, the overall evidence for measurable structural differences remains quite mixed. Some studies find significant differences, while others do not. More research is still needed to resolve these inconsistencies.
What about functional changes?
Looking at brain activity, rather than just structure, also provides clues about the impact of religious beliefs. For example:
- A 2010 study by Schjoedt and colleagues used EEG and found enhanced engagement of frontal regions in Christian subjects during prayer.
- A 2009 study by Azari and colleagues used PET scans and found that religious thinking in both religious and non-religious subjects engaged several frontal and parietal regions.
- A 2005 study by Newberg and colleagues used SPECT imaging and showed decreased activity in the posterior parietal lobes of Franciscan nuns during intense prayer.
In general, studies show that religious thinking and practice tend to activate frontal and parietal brain networks involved in attention, imagery, and social cognition. However, more research is needed to determine if religious believers use their brains in a fundamentally different way than non-believers.
Can religion alter the brain long-term?
Only a few neuroimaging studies have specifically examined the long-term impact of religion on brain structure and function. For instance:
- A 2014 study by Reinecke and colleagues used voxel-based morphometry and showed greater white matter connectivity in meditation practitioners compared to controls.
- A 2016 study by Geiger and colleagues used MRI and found increased cortical thickness in spiritually committed Christians, positively correlated with length of practice.
Together, these results suggest that intense, long-term religious practice may promote subtle changes in brain connectivity patterns that can be detected with sensitive neuroimaging methods. However, more longitudinal studies tracking believers over time are needed to truly establish cause and effect.
Why might religion alter the brain?
There are several ways in which adopting religious beliefs and engaging in spiritual practices could potentially impact brain structure and function over time. For example:
- Cognitive training – The contemplative, imaginative, and morally-focused nature of prayer and meditation may work as a kind of “mental exercise” that strengthens specific brain systems involved in emotional regulation, empathy, and abstract thinking.
- Social effects – Religious service attendance and feeling connected to a faith community may help satisfy social needs and reduce stress, protecting against depression-related atrophy.
- Lifestyle factors – Certain religious lifestyle choices, such as sobriety and marital fidelity, could directly improve long-term brain health.
- Placebo effects – The power of belief itself and expectation of gain from religious practice may trigger neurochemical changes, promoting structural and functional changes analogous to a placebo response.
Disentangling these different causal pathways remains challenging. But it seems likely that complex social and neurocognitive processes work together to produce lasting effects of religion on the brain.
Are spiritual brains more healthy overall?
Some researchers have gone so far as to suggest that devout religious belief and practice can enhance overall brain health and cognitive function. However, the evidence remains quite mixed:
- A 2016 study by Aarsland and colleagues found a link between religious attendance and lower dementia risk.
- But a 2018 study by Van Praag and colleagues showed no significant association between religious factors and Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers.
- Some studies show religious people perform better on tests of short-term memory. But others find no cognition advantage.
Much more research is needed before concluding that a spiritual brain is necessarily a healthier brain overall. Religion may indeed convey certain neurological benefits – but it’s also complex and multifaceted – and its links to the brain likely depend greatly on social and cultural contexts.
Does religious brain activity predict ethical behavior?
Given religion’s role in moral teaching, researchers have also asked whether patterns of brain activity during religious tasks might predict real-world moral attitudes or behavior. However, the evidence is limited:
- A 2012 study by Baimel and colleagues showed that neural engagement during religious thinking correlated with reduced racial prejudice.
- However a 2015 study by Koenig and colleagues found no association between religion-related brain function and moral attitudes or sensitivity.
Much more work is needed to determine if religious beliefs reflected in neural processing are embodied in positive ethical conduct. The links between spiritual brain states and moral action in the world remain mostly speculative for now.
Does religion only affect the brains of the faithful?
Most neuroimaging studies on religion and the brain focus exclusively on religious believers. But a few studies provide clues that spiritual contemplation may alter cognition regardless of a person’s faith:
- A 2012 study by Schjoedt and colleagues found prayer-induced changes in emotional processing in Christian and atheist subjects.
- A 2010 study by Schjoedt and colleagues showed frontal lobe activation during prayer even in non-believers.
This suggests that religious activities like meditation or prayer may confer certain cognitive benefits independent of any belief in the practice’s spiritual import. However, true non-believers are rarely included as study subjects. More research specifically comparing believers to non-believers during spiritual practices could shed light on whether religious brain changes depend on faith.
Conclusion
In summary, recent neuroimaging data shows some intriguing links between religious belief and practice and measurable changes in brain structure and function. However, many significant questions remain regarding the causal nature of this relationship. More research is still needed to determine exactly how and why spiritual experiences leave their mark on the brains of the faithful…and perhaps even the faithless. While neuroscience cannot validate or disprove the transcendent claims of religion, mapping its impact on the brain can provide useful insights into neural processes underlying our complex spiritual instincts.
