A Neural Circuit for Spirituality and Religiosity Derived From Patients With Brain Lesions

Michael A Ferguson; Frederic L W V J Schaper; Alexander Cohen; Shan Siddiqi; Sarah M Merrill; Jared A Nielsen; Jordan Grafman; Cosimo Urgesi; Franco Fabbro; Michael D Fox

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.06.016

A Neural Circuit for Spirituality and Religiosity Derived From Patients With Brain Lesions

Michael A Ferguson^*, Frederic L W V J Schaper, Alexander Cohen, Shan Siddiqi, Sarah M Merrill, Jared A Nielsen, Jordan Grafman, Cosimo Urgesi, Franco Fabbro, Michael D Fox

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

11 Citations (Web of Science)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Over 80% of the global population consider themselves religious, with even more identifying as spiritual, but the neural substrates of spirituality and religiosity remain unresolved.

METHODS: In two independent brain lesion datasets (N1 = 88; N2 = 105), we applied lesion network mapping to test whether lesion locations associated with spiritual and religious belief map to a specific human brain circuit.

RESULTS: We found that brain lesions associated with self-reported spirituality map to a brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray. Intersection of lesion locations with this same circuit aligned with self-reported religiosity in an independent dataset and previous reports of lesions associated with hyper-religiosity. Lesion locations causing delusions and alien limb syndrome also intersected this circuit.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that spirituality and religiosity map to a common brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray, a brainstem region previously implicated in fear conditioning, pain modulation, and altruistic behavior.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	380-388
Number of pages	9
Journal	Biological Psychiatry
Volume	91
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.06.016
Publication status	Published - 15 Feb 2022

Keywords

Brain
Humans
Nervous System Diseases
Pain
Religion
Spirituality
LOVE
TEMPERAMENT
DESIRE
TRANSCENDENCE
NETWORK LOCALIZATION
SYMPTOMS

Access to Document

10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.06.016

Cite this

@article{5c0dc521938c40c5975ee90f94b783f8,

title = "A Neural Circuit for Spirituality and Religiosity Derived From Patients With Brain Lesions",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: Over 80% of the global population consider themselves religious, with even more identifying as spiritual, but the neural substrates of spirituality and religiosity remain unresolved.METHODS: In two independent brain lesion datasets (N1 = 88; N2 = 105), we applied lesion network mapping to test whether lesion locations associated with spiritual and religious belief map to a specific human brain circuit.RESULTS: We found that brain lesions associated with self-reported spirituality map to a brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray. Intersection of lesion locations with this same circuit aligned with self-reported religiosity in an independent dataset and previous reports of lesions associated with hyper-religiosity. Lesion locations causing delusions and alien limb syndrome also intersected this circuit.CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that spirituality and religiosity map to a common brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray, a brainstem region previously implicated in fear conditioning, pain modulation, and altruistic behavior.",

keywords = "Brain, Humans, Nervous System Diseases, Pain, Religion, Spirituality, LOVE, TEMPERAMENT, DESIRE, TRANSCENDENCE, NETWORK LOCALIZATION, SYMPTOMS",

author = "Ferguson, {Michael A} and Schaper, {Frederic L W V J} and Alexander Cohen and Shan Siddiqi and Merrill, {Sarah M} and Nielsen, {Jared A} and Jordan Grafman and Cosimo Urgesi and Franco Fabbro and Fox, {Michael D}",

year = "2022",

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doi = "10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.06.016",

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T1 - A Neural Circuit for Spirituality and Religiosity Derived From Patients With Brain Lesions

AU - Ferguson, Michael A

AU - Schaper, Frederic L W V J

AU - Cohen, Alexander

AU - Siddiqi, Shan

AU - Merrill, Sarah M

AU - Nielsen, Jared A

AU - Grafman, Jordan

AU - Urgesi, Cosimo

AU - Fabbro, Franco

AU - Fox, Michael D

PY - 2022/2/15

Y1 - 2022/2/15

N2 - BACKGROUND: Over 80% of the global population consider themselves religious, with even more identifying as spiritual, but the neural substrates of spirituality and religiosity remain unresolved.METHODS: In two independent brain lesion datasets (N1 = 88; N2 = 105), we applied lesion network mapping to test whether lesion locations associated with spiritual and religious belief map to a specific human brain circuit.RESULTS: We found that brain lesions associated with self-reported spirituality map to a brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray. Intersection of lesion locations with this same circuit aligned with self-reported religiosity in an independent dataset and previous reports of lesions associated with hyper-religiosity. Lesion locations causing delusions and alien limb syndrome also intersected this circuit.CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that spirituality and religiosity map to a common brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray, a brainstem region previously implicated in fear conditioning, pain modulation, and altruistic behavior.

AB - BACKGROUND: Over 80% of the global population consider themselves religious, with even more identifying as spiritual, but the neural substrates of spirituality and religiosity remain unresolved.METHODS: In two independent brain lesion datasets (N1 = 88; N2 = 105), we applied lesion network mapping to test whether lesion locations associated with spiritual and religious belief map to a specific human brain circuit.RESULTS: We found that brain lesions associated with self-reported spirituality map to a brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray. Intersection of lesion locations with this same circuit aligned with self-reported religiosity in an independent dataset and previous reports of lesions associated with hyper-religiosity. Lesion locations causing delusions and alien limb syndrome also intersected this circuit.CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that spirituality and religiosity map to a common brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray, a brainstem region previously implicated in fear conditioning, pain modulation, and altruistic behavior.

KW - Brain

KW - Humans

KW - Nervous System Diseases

KW - Pain

KW - Religion

KW - Spirituality

KW - LOVE

KW - TEMPERAMENT

KW - DESIRE

KW - TRANSCENDENCE

KW - NETWORK LOCALIZATION

KW - SYMPTOMS

U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.06.016

DO - 10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.06.016

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