Neural Correlates of Religious Experience

flighty Correlates of Religious bearAn geographic expedition of the Reason, Methods and Research of the Neural Correlates of Religious ExperienceJennifer RomanoAbstractSpiritual and Religious lives often remain and power and opaque aspect of reality. The aim of this paper is to address the reasons, methods and literature around the unquiet correlates of these events. examine the implicit in(p) mechanisms behind these phenomenons can be contr everyplacesial as it raises philosophical dilemmas. However, this research is important to get on the under stand of the man cause. new-fangled visualize studies indicate several straits regions (frontal lobes and limbic system) associated with ghostlike intimacy. through and through a streamlining of these methodologies, it is anticipated that these studies will go forth implications for integrating unearthlyity into psychformer(a)apy.An Exploration of the Reason, Methods and Research of the Neural Correlates of Religious Exper ienceThere is a voyager condition known as capital of Israel Syndrome, whereby tourists to Jerusalem begin to develop a psychosomatic illness in which they follow out deeply phantasmal delusions, much(prenominal) as believing they ar God or other characters from the record book (Kalian Witztum, 2002). Some psychiatrists hypothesize that this disorder may develop as a result of an incongruence amongst their expectations of the holy city and the reality that it is, in fact, a modern city. Others speculate that many of these travelers atomic number 18 pilgrims, and upon arriving in Jerusalem, they feel approximate to God, and it is this intense feeling of propinquity that leads to this strange psycho synthetical reaction.Other voyager syndromes hold out as well. Stendhal syndrome and Paris Syndrome withstand also been reported, besides are believed to be an intense psychological reaction to the quantity and quality of art in both(prenominal) Florence and Paris, respective ly (Smith, 2010). All lives, whether phantasmal or not, are wittiness based and therefore provide both a psychological and physiologic response. That is why standing before the Temple Mount or standing before a sculpture by Michelangelo can both maneuver shivers down your spine or move you to tears. Spiritual or religious start outs like the ones mentioned above continue to be a mysterious phenomenon that warrants further study.Why Study Neural Correlates of Religious Experiences?Spirituality is an aspect of humanity that the field of psychological science is just beginning to tap into. Surveys indicate that over 90% of United States believes in a god and 58% categorised worship as important to them (Shafranske, 1996). For this reason and several others, Pargament (2007) argues, spectrality cannot be separated from mental hygiene and in many cases can be both part of the problem and the solution for those that the field serves. Through understanding the aflutter mechanisms behind religious feel and behaviors, psychologists could potentially unlock new resources in practicing spiritually integrated psychotherapy.A study of the neurological correlates of religious or spiritual engenders inevitably runs into the discourse of mind and body dualism. During the 17th century, Descartes proposed his revolutionary idea that the mind and body were separate entities. He hypothesized that the mind was the sheer component to our thoughts while the brain was the material, but neither entity can serve up alone. Much the same, Aristotle theorized centuries earlier that thoughts and feelings actually came from the heart rather than the brain. Eastern philosophical system has held the notion for centuries suggesting that the mind/body connection is integrated and holistic. This notion was menace with the advent of modern western medicine.Science provided a mechanistic stumper of health. Alan Turing, one of the forerunners of the cognitive revolution, suggeste d that humans operated on the same production rules as computers in his computational-representational paradigm (Boden, 2006). This has lead to the exclusion of the spiritual and trust in the study of modern psychological science. In fact, the field of psychology has not invariably embraced religion. Freud used psychological conjecture to discount religion as a whole, suggesting that people invented god as a bod of wish fulfilment that had its roots in unresolved childhood conflict (Freud, 1950). Much the same, B.F. mule skinner rejected the notion of God, dissolving religion down to a form of behavioral control (Skinner, 1971). These two forefathers ushered in the advent of modern attainment in analyze the human psyche. With this societal change came the prediction of religion dissolution, and yet, it suave remains. Recently, psychologists have begun to advocate for a pragmatic approach to studying humanitys spiritual and religious correlates.The modern approach appears to b e that the mind is in fact the less tangible functions of the brain save both the material and phenomenological are relevant to study in religious and spiritual experiences. William James in his book The Varieties of Religious Experience highlighted the endangerment of a reductionist explanation of religious experiences. He writes ideals appear as inert by-products of physiology what is higher is explained by what is lower and treated forever as a case of nothing but- nothing but something else of an lowly sort. (James, 1981, p.8) It is important to consider neuropsychological research through this lens. However, understanding the underlying mechanisms does not necessarily take away the meaning that people denudation in their experiences. Does knowing that the neurotransmitters involved in the feelings of love make the experience of a mothers love personally less purposeful? Who is to say that God did not construct us with the capacity to invade in these experiences? Jones (20 10) argued that further study into the neuroscience of religious experience can lone(prenominal) extend the understanding of the human condition. It is with this frame of reference that practitioners should advise the cognition gained through this research.Methods of Neural Correlate StudiesAs with all scientific research, an functional definition of religious experience is needed before any efficacious examination can be done. This is a flow rate issue deep down this line of study as religious behaviors, beliefs and experiences are complex phenomenon. Studying any experiential component relies on subjective measures as having experience is not easily observable to an outside investigator. Religious and spiritual experiences are defined on an individual level. McNarama (2002) suggested that religious experiences involve intense cognitive and emotional reactions to humanitys ultimate concerns. These may allow behaviors much(prenominal) as prayer, meditation, and chanting. Mos t subjective measures that are used often include cognitive, emotional, and psychological parameters ( new-fashionedberg, 2014).It is not enough to just acknowledge the existence of the experience, rather in order to understand the construct more thoroughly, objective measures are required. Physiological parameters such as prodigal pressure, heart rate, and hormonal changes have been used to look at the basic biological reactions to these experiences. Nevertheless, these plainly provide a foundational understanding of the effects of spiritual experience in the human brain. Studies show that changes in the autonomic nervous system are multifarious, in that a relaxation response may also have rousing components (Hugdhal, 1996). In order to understand these complexities, researchers must look in the brain.The current instruments to do this include imaging devices. Electroencephalography (EEG) measures electrical activity in the brain, but only allows for broad implications in the s ubject areas of energizing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allows for more localized assessment through measuring cerebral blood flow, however the machinery is limiting in measuring practices that can not be spotless laying down. Positron sack tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) allow for more specificity in measuring neurotransmitter systems in brain activation. It is important to note that all of these measures, while helpful can only provide correlations and should not be implied to measure causal effects.Literature check outFrom what has been lionised, religious experiences are common across age, time and culture (Wach, 1951). umpteen understand religious experience to be like any other experience. Just as someone may feel joy, love, fear, or frighten in regards to any ordinary object, in a religious experience all these same feelings are there, they are just superimposed towards a religious object. Previously it was propos ed that the same limbic and subcortical networks that supported non-religious feelings were worked up in experiencing religious feelings as well (Saver Ravin, 1997). This led to a tangible inference that religious experiences are generated as a difference in perception, rather than a difference in sensation. Essentially, Saver and Ravin supposed that individuals interpret a religious stimulus in unique ways fit to the cognitive expectations that they carry.In 2001, researchers conducted a study to see if religious experience was in fact due to attribution as Saver and Rabin suggested or if these experiences were pre-conceptual. To test this, they observed brain activation via positron emission tomography (PET) scan in religious/non-religious subjects as they recited a psalm. They hypothesized that if the religious experience was an attributional phenomenon, there would be activation in the frontal parietal lobe, an area known for reasoning. However if pre-conceptual, they expect ed to see activation in the limbic system, which is in charge of emotions. Interestingly enough, they found that a religious res publica involved areas of cognitive processes, supporting the attribution phenomenon (Azari et. al, 2001). They also concluded that religious experience did not elicit the same emotional experience or arousal as compared to non-religious subjects in a happy state, furthering the evidence for the theory of attribution.While the results from this study have led to the understanding of the difference between mental states in religious and non-religious subjects, it does not isolate the variable of belief itself. This becomes especially important when religious experience is understood as logical cognitive process. It begs the question, where do these cognitions originate? In a study completed in 2009, researchers found that religious thinking is more associated with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a region that governs emotion, self-representation, and c ognitive conflict, whereas ordinary facts were more reliant on storehouse retrieval networks (Harris et. al, 2009). So while this still supports the theory that religious experience and thought come from a logical part of our brains, it adds another layer, claiming that we still deal with religion in an emotional way.Beauregaurd and Paquette (2008) used fMRI scans to observe brain activation in Carmelite nuns when asked to re-experience their most intense spiritual connection. Results indicated that there was significant overlap in activation of those nuns asked to re-experience an intense spiritual interaction and those asked to relive an intense human interaction. However, there was greater activation in the prefrontal cortex, medial temporal cortex, and insular cortex for those participants in the spiritual group. The most interesting of these activations was in the insular cortex as this part of the brain is implied in interpreting visceral stimuli. This infers that those with a spiritual experience felt their connection deep down inwardly in their bodies. McNarma hypothesized that the activation in the frontal lobes may have implications for the intrinsically honor properties of spiritual experiences (McNamara, 2002). This supposition may explain why spiritual or religious experiences may feel so good.ConclusionOverall, imaging studies take care to indicate the frontal lobes and limbic system are involved in various religious and spiritual experiences (Newberg, 2014). It is important to note that with the methodological discrepancies in the field there is still a great amount of within group variance that should continue to be explored. Spiritual experiences such as prayer, mediation, or even pilgrimage such as in Jerusalem Syndrome are naturalistically powerful events. Through studying the mechanisms that lie beneath these events, psychologists may be able to identify the healing components and in turn flout the development of the human psyche.Refere ncesAzari N., Nickel J, Wunderlich G, Niedeggen M, Hefter H, et al. (2001). 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