Recommendable! Incredible, this type of research is still extremely nascent despite of several decades of research! There is little doubt in my mind that serious, prolonged religiosity/spirituality affects the brain probably mostly positive. I bet, more will be discovered as time goes on!
"... For decades, researchers have observed that some patients with temporal lobe epilepsy experienced hyper-religiosity—religious beliefs so intense that they can interrupt daily functioning. ...
The nascent field [neurotheology, neurospirituality] so far is characterized by disparate findings that are rarely replicated and difficult to reconcile into a cohesive hypothesis. Last year, one group used MRI to measure anatomical differences among individuals at three different regions of the brain—including areas in the temporal lobe implicated in hyper-religiosity after epilepsy surgeries—that they thought might process religious experiences. After questioning 211 individuals about their religiosity and spirituality and scanning their brains, the researchers found no differences in gray matter volume between those who said they were religious and those who said they weren’t. That team did not specifically look at the periaqueductal gray. ...
Other inconsistencies also plague the literature. Researchers define “spirituality” and “religiosity” differently in each study, for example. “Most of these studies have been based on a single measure,” says Connie Svob, a neuropsychiatrist in Weissman’s lab. Some might ask participants how important religion is to them, while others ask how often they pray or if they consider themselves religious people. ...
One of the major findings ... was that participants who believed in the importance of religion had less cortical thinning—a reduction in the volume of neuronal tissue in specific areas of the brain that’s considered a hallmark of depression risk—than did those who said they didn’t. ...
The nascent field [neurotheology, neurospirituality] so far is characterized by disparate findings that are rarely replicated and difficult to reconcile into a cohesive hypothesis. Last year, one group used MRI to measure anatomical differences among individuals at three different regions of the brain—including areas in the temporal lobe implicated in hyper-religiosity after epilepsy surgeries—that they thought might process religious experiences. After questioning 211 individuals about their religiosity and spirituality and scanning their brains, the researchers found no differences in gray matter volume between those who said they were religious and those who said they weren’t. That team did not specifically look at the periaqueductal gray. ...
Other inconsistencies also plague the literature. Researchers define “spirituality” and “religiosity” differently in each study, for example. “Most of these studies have been based on a single measure,” says Connie Svob, a neuropsychiatrist in Weissman’s lab. Some might ask participants how important religion is to them, while others ask how often they pray or if they consider themselves religious people. ...
One of the major findings ... was that participants who believed in the importance of religion had less cortical thinning—a reduction in the volume of neuronal tissue in specific areas of the brain that’s considered a hallmark of depression risk—than did those who said they didn’t. ...
... recruited 88 patients who were scheduled to undergo neurosurgery to remove brain tumors. Both before and after the surgeries, the participants filled out surveys that asked about religiosity and spirituality. After their surgeries, 30 patients said their religiosity and spirituality decreased, while 29 said it increased, and another 29 didn’t experience any change.
The researchers compared their answers to the sections of the brain the patients had had removed and found that patients whose spirituality changed in either direction had a portion of the brain removed that connected to the PAG [Periaqueductal gray]. “The finding that the network they identified is centered on the PAG is a bit surprising, as that region is not usually flagged in neuroimaging studies on spirituality,” ..."
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