Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Is our brain hardwired to produce God, or is our brain hardwired to perceive God? A systematic review on the role of the brain in mediating religious experience

  • Review
  • Published:
Cognitive Processing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To figure out whether the main empirical question “Is our brain hardwired to believe in and produce God, or is our brain hardwired to perceive and experience God?” is answered, this paper presents systematic critical review of the positions, arguments and controversies of each side of the neuroscientific–theological debate and puts forward an integral view where the human is seen as a psycho-somatic entity consisting of the multiple levels and dimensions of human existence (physical, biological, psychological, and spiritual reality), allowing consciousness/mind/spirit and brain/body/matter to be seen as different sides of the same phenomenon, neither reducible to each other. The emergence of a form of causation distinctive from physics where mental/conscious agency (a) is neither identical with nor reducible to brain processes and (b) does exert “downward” causal influence on brain plasticity and the various levels of brain functioning is discussed. This manuscript also discusses the role of cognitive processes in religious experience and outlines what can neuroscience offer for study of religious experience and what is the significance of this study for neuroscience, clinicians, theology and philosophy. A methodological shift from “explanation” to “description” of religious experience is suggested. This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion between theologians, cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. See also a consensus conference of scientists interested in studying spirituality and religiousness which created the criteria for each definition (Larson et al. 1998).

  2. Metacognition refers to thinking about cognition (memory, perception, calculation, association, etc.) itself or to thinking/reasoning about one’s own thinking (Metcalfe and Shimamura 1994).

  3. Baseline reality is the reality that comprises our everyday perceptions and behaviours.

  4. Raw, i.e., uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years “Before Present” (BP).

  5. Atheist—one who denies the existence of God.

  6. Agnostic—one who is sceptical about the existence of God but not an atheist.

  7. Non-believer—one who does not believe neither in any sort of spirit, God, or life force.

  8. Psychoticism is one of the three traits of personality. High levels of this trait are believed to be linked to increased vulnerability to psychoses such as schizophrenia (Eysenck and Eysenck 1976).

  9. Psychedelics are psychoactive drugs whose primary action is to alter the thought processes of the brain. They induce intense and distorted sensory perceptions, hallucinations, feelings of euphoria or sometimes despair, and altered states of awareness or sometimes states resembling psychosis.

  10. In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic substances (alkaloids) found in opium. The benzodiazepines are a class of psychoactive drugs considered as minor tranquilizers with varying hypnotic, sedative, anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant and amnesic properties, which are brought about slowing down the central nervous system. In pharmacology an antagonist is a binding partner of a receptor that inhibits the function of an agonist (a substance that binds to a specific receptor and triggers a response in the cell).

  11. The quest for an evolutionary basis of religious experience is not new (see Walter 1995).

  12. The limbic system includes the structures in the human brain involved in emotion, motivation, and emotional association with memory.

  13. Emergence refers to the way a complex system and pattern arises out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions and the complexity of this system makes possible types of phenomena which could not be generated by the components alone or summed together (Kim 1992).

  14. Alpha (the frequency range of 8–12 Hz) and theta (the frequency range of 4–8 Hz) waves are electromagnetic oscillations arising from synchronous and coherent (in phase) electrical activity in the human brain.

  15. Coherence is a measure of the dependence of two random variables.

  16. Bizarre objects/actions/persons, etc., are defined as not existing or as impossible in waking-life reality (States 2000).

  17. The nocebo effect is a phenomenon that is opposite to the placebo effect, whereby expectation of a negative outcome may lead to the worsening of a symptom.

  18. Analgesia is a loss of sensation of pain.

  19. However, we understand and accept that there may be some aspects of the relationship between spiritual (divine) and brain (physical) natures that will escape our understanding forever, but that should not stop us from trying still to understand it.

  20. Even though in the main stream Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Chinese religious tradition there is similar understanding of body and soul interaction, generally these traditions contain many variant and inconsistent beliefs on the origin, purpose, and fate of the soul.

  21. A catechism is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present.

  22. In the other words, “ideal” (as a subjective form) get realised in the matter as “real” objective form.

  23. Genesis is the first book of the Bible used by Judaism and Christianity and to a large extend in Qur’an. It contains stories about the creation of the world and human being.

  24. Note that sometime the notions of “soul” and “Spirit” are used as synonyms. This may bring confusion and consequently may lead to a debate in the history of religions and in the history of the modern psychology. If the mentioned intermix is avoided, then rather a consensus, not a debate is present.

  25. The terms “description” and “explanation” are used here according to a common sense: “Description” is about observable or empirical phenomena (it answers the question What?). “Explanation”—provides a mechanism of observable or empirical phenomena (it answers the question Why?—why the observable or empirical phenomena is like it is? It provides a mechanism).

  26. Altered state of consciousness—a changed overall pattern of experience coupled with a changed pattern at the neurophysiological level (Kallio and Revonsuo 2003).

  27. State refers to the altered sensory, cognitive and self-referential awareness that can arise during religious experience, whereas trait refers to the lasting changes in these dimensions that persist in the person irrespective of being actively engaged in religious experience (West 1987; Austin 1998).

  28. Operational architectonics defines the temporal structure of the information flow and the inter-area interactions within a spatial network of functional neuronal assemblies by examining topographic rapid transition processes (on the millisecond scale) in the scalp electroencephalogram (EEG)/magnetoencephalogram (MEG) and is a framework adequate to instantiate discrete conscious experiences without fundamentally violating the demand of its continuity (Fingelkurts and Fingelkurts 2006).

  29. Isomorphism is generally defined as a mapping of one entity into another having the same elemental structure, whereby the behaviours of the two entities are identically describable (Warfield 1977). A functional isomorphism on the other hand requires the functional connectivity between its component entities (Lehar 2003). It is an extension to Müller’s psychophysical postulate (Müller 1896), and Chalmers’ principle of structural coherence (Chalmers 1995).

References

  • Abdel-Khalek AM, Lester D (2007) Religiosity, health, and psychopathology in two cultures: Kuwait and USA. Ment Health Relig Cult 10(5):537–550. doi:10.1080/13674670601166505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adcock RA, Thangavel A, Whitfield-Gabrieli S, Knutson B, Gabrieli JDE (2006) Reward-motivated learning: mesolimbic activation precedes memory formation. Neuron 50:507–517. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2006.03.036

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aftanas LI, Golocheikine SA (2001) Human anterior and frontal midline theta and lower alpha reflect emotionally positive state and internalized attention: high-resolution EEG investigation of meditation. Neurosci Lett 310:57–60. doi:10.1016/S0304-3940(01)02094-8

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aghajanian GK, Marek GJ (1999) Serotonin and hallucinogens. Neuropsychopharmacology 21(suppl 2):16S–23S. doi:10.1016/S0893-133X(98)00135-3

    Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong T (1985) Profound childhood religious experience. Paper presented at the 93rd annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, CA

  • Atran S (2002) In Gods we trust: the evolutionary landscape of religion. Oxford University, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Augustine JR (1996) Circuitry and functional aspects of the insular lobe in primates including humans. Brain Res Brain Res Rev 22:229–244. doi:10.1016/S0165-0173(96)00011-2

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Austin JH (1998) Zen and the brain: toward an understanding of meditation and consciousness. The MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Azari NP, Birnbacher D (2004) The role of cognition and feeling in religious experience: an interdisciplinary inquiry. Zygon 39(4):901–918. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9744.2004.00627.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azari NP, Nickel J, Wunderlich G, Niedeggen M, Hefter H, Tellmann L, Herzog H, Stoerig P, Birnbacher D, Seitz RJ (2001a) Neural correlates of religious experience. Eur J Neurosci 13(8):1649–1652. doi:10.1046/j.0953-816x.2001.01527.x

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Azari NP, Nickel J, Wunderlich G, Niedeggen M, Hefter H, Tellmann L et al (2001b) Neural circuitry of religious experience. Paper presented at the 31st annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA

  • Baars BJ (2005) Subjective experience is probably not limited to humans: the evidence from neurobiology and behaviour. Conscious Cogn 14:7–21. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2004.11.002

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Badawi K, Wallace RK, Orme-Johnson D, Rouzere AM (1984) Electrophysiologic characteristics of respiratory suspension periods occurring during the practice of the Transcendental Meditation program. Psychosom Med 46:267–276

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Badgaiyan RD (2000) Executive control, willed actions, and nonconscious processing. Hum Brain Mapp 9:38–41. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0193(2000)9:1<38::AID-HBM4>3.0.CO;2-T

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett JL (2000) Exploring the natural foundations of religion. Trends Cogn Sci 4(1):29–34. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01419-9

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett JL (2007) Is the spell really broken? Bio-psychological explanations of religion and theistic belief. Theol Sci 5(1):57–72. doi:10.1080/14746700601159564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett JL, Keil FC (1996) Conceptualizing a non-natural entity: anthropomorphism in God concepts. Cognit Psychol 31:219–247. doi:10.1006/cogp.1996.0017

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett JL, Richert RA (2003) Anthropomorphism or preparedness? Exploring children’s God concepts. Rev Relig Res 44(3):300–312. doi:10.2307/3512389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartels A, Zeki S (2000) The neural basis of romantic love. Neuroreport 11:3829–3834. doi:10.1097/00001756-200011270-00046

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bartels A, Zeki S (2004) The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love. Neuroimage 21:1155–1166. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Batson CD, Ventis WL (1982) The religious experience: a social-psychological perspective, chap 7. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bear DM (1979) Temporal lobe epilepsy—a syndrome of sensory-limbic hyperconnection. Cortex 15:357–384

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bear DM, Fedio P (1977) Quantitative analysis of interictal behavior in temporal lobe epilepsy. Arch Neurol 34:454–467

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bear D, Levin K, Blumer D, Chetham D, Reider J (1982) Interictal behavior in hospitalized temporal lobe epileptics: relationship to idiopathic psychiatric syndromes. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 45:481–488. doi:10.1136/jnnp.45.6.481

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Beauregard M (2007) Mind does really matter: evidence from neuroimaging studies of emotional self-regulation, psychotherapy, and placebo effect. Prog Neurobiol 81(4):218–236. doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2007.01.005

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beauregard M, Paquette V (2006) Neural correlates of a mystical experience in Carmelite nuns. Neurosci Lett 405:186–190. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2006.06.060

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bechara A, Damasio AR, Damasio H, Anderson SW (1994) Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition 50:7–12. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Benedetti F, Lanotte M, Lopiano L, Colloca L (2007) When words are painful: unraveling the mechanisms of the nocebo effect. Neuroscience 147:260–271. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2007.02.020

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett JE, Trinder J (1977) Hemispheric laterality and cognitive style associated with Transcendental Meditation. Psychophysiology 14:293–296. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1977.tb01178.x

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Berdyaev NA (1937) Spirit and reality (translated 1939). YMCA Press, Paris, p 175

    Google Scholar 

  • Bering JM (2004) The evolutionary history of an illusion: religious causal beliefs in children and adults. In: Ellis B, Bjorklund DF (eds) Origins of the social mind: evolutionary psychology and child development. Guilford Press, New York, pp 411–437

    Google Scholar 

  • Blood A, Zatorre R (2001) Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:11818–11823. doi:10.1073/pnas.191355898

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom P (2007) Religion is natural. Dev Sci 10:147–151. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00577.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Borg J, Andrée B, Serstrom H, Farde L (2003) The serotonin system and spiritual experiences. Am J Psychiatry 160:1965–1969. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1965

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bouchard TJ Jr, Lykken DT, McGue M, Segal NL, Tellegen A (1990) Sources of human psychological differences: the Minnesota study of twins reared apart. Science 250:223–228. doi:10.1126/science.2218526

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boyer P (2001) Religion explained: evolutionary origins of religious thought. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyer P (2003) Religious thought and behaviour as by-products of brain function. Trends Cogn Sci 7(3):119–124. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00031-7

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bozarth MA (1991) The mesolimbic dopamine system as a model brain reward system. In: Willner P, Scheel-Krüger J (eds) The mesolimbic dopamine system: from motivation to action. Wiley, London, pp 301–330

    Google Scholar 

  • Braam AW, Van den Eeden P, Prince MJ, Beekman AT, Kivela SL, Lawlor BA, Birkhofer A, Fuhrer R, Lobo A, Magnusson H, Mann AH, Meller I, Roelands M, Skoog I, Turrina C, Copeland JR (2001) Religion as a cross-cultural determinant of depression in elderly Europeans: results from the Eurodep collaboration. Psychol Med 31(5):803–814. doi:10.1017/S0033291701003956

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bremmer J (1983) The early Greek concept of the soul. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Bressler SL, Kelso JAS (2001) Cortical coordination dynamics and cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 5:26–36. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01564-3

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brewerton TD (1994) Hyperreligiosity in psychotic disorders. J Nerv Ment Dis 182:302–304. doi:10.1097/00005053-199405000-00009

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Britton WB, Bootzin RR (2004) Near-death experiences and the temporal lobe. Psychol Sci 15:254–258. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00661.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brugger P, Graves RE (1997) Testing vs. believing hypotheses: magical ideation in the judgment of contingencies. Cogn Neuropsychiatry 2:251–272. doi:10.1080/135468097396270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bucke RM (1961) Cosmic consciousness. Citadel, Secaucus

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley P (1981) Mystical experience and schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 7:516–521

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burkert W (1996) Creation of the sacred: tracks of biology in early religions. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, p 255

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrd RC (1988) Positive therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer in a coronary care unit population. South Med J 81(7):826–829. doi:10.1097/00007611-198807000-00005

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cahn BR, Polich J (2006) Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies. Psychol Bull 132:180–211. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.2.180

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Calabrese P, Markowitsch H, Durwen H, Widlitzek H, Haupts M, Holinka B, Gehlen W (1996) Right temporofrontal cortex as critical locus for the ecphory of episodic memories. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 61:304–310. doi:10.1136/jnnp.61.3.304

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carlton PL (1963) Cholinergic mechanisms in the control of behaviour by the brain. Psychol Rev 40:19–39. doi:10.1037/h0045063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter BM (2000) The salvation of your souls: but what is a soul? Perspect Sci Christ Faith 52(4):242–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Castelli F, Happe F, Frith U, Frith C (2000) Movement and mind: a functional imaging study of perception and interpretation of complex intentional movement patterns. Neuroimage 12:314–325. doi:10.1006/nimg.2000.0612

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cha KY, Wirth DP, Lobo RA (2001) Does prayer influence the success of in vitro fertilization embryo transfer? Report of a masked, randomized trial. J Reprod Med 46:781–787

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chalmers DJ (1995) Facing up to the problems of consciousness. J Conscious Stud 2:200–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Cicogna P, Natale V, Occhionero M, Bosinelli M (1998) A comparison of mental activity during sleep onset and morning awakening. Sleep 21(5):462–470

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clark WH (1969) Chemical ecstasy. Sheed & Ward, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Clayton P (1999) Neuroscience, the person and god: an emergentist account. In: Russell RJ, Murphy N, Meyering TC, Arbib M (eds) Neuroscience and the person: scientific perspectives on divine action. Vatican Observatory Publications and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences

  • Clayton P (2000) The emergence of spirit. Center Theol Nat Sci Bull 20(4):3–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Clayton P (2006) The emergence of spirit: from complexity to anthropology to theology? Theol Sci 4(3):291–307. doi:10.1080/14746700600953454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton P (2007) The impossible possibility: divine causes in the world of nature. Online paper. Retrieved from http://www.ctr4process.org/about/CoDirectors/clayton/papers.htm

  • Cohen BM, Carlezon WA Jr (2007) Can’t get enough of that dopamine. Am J Psychiatry 164:543–546. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.164.4.543

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coles R (1990) The spiritual life of children. Houghton Mifflin, England

  • Collette F, Van der Linden M (2002) Brain imaging of the central executive component of working memory. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 26:105–125. doi:10.1016/S0149-7634(01)00063-X

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Comings DE, Gonzales N, Saucier G, Johnson JP, MacMurray JP (2000) The DRD4 gene and the spiritual transcendence scale of the temperament index. Psychiatr Genet 10:185–189. doi:10.1097/00041444-200010040-00006

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Conze E (1993) A short history of Buddhism, 2nd edn. Oneworld Pubns Ltd

  • Cothran MM, Harvey PD (1986) Delusional thinking in psychotics: correlates of religious content. Psychol Rep 58:191–199

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crinion J, Turner R, Grogan A, Hanakawa T, Noppeney U, Devlin JT, Aso T, Urayama S, Fukuyama H, Stockton K, Usui K, Green DW, Price CJ (2006) Language control in the bilingual brain. Science 312(5779):1537–1540. doi:10.1126/science.1127761

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Critchley HD, Wien S, Rotshtein P, Ohman A, Dolan RJ (2004) Neural systems supporting interoceptive awareness. Nat Neurosci 7:189–195. doi:10.1038/nn1176

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Csernansky JG, Leiderman DB, Mandabach M, Moses JA Jr (1990) Psychopathology and limbic epilepsy: relationship to seizure variables and neuropsychological function. Epilepsia 31:275–280. doi:10.1111/j.1528-1157.1990.tb05376.x

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cummings JL (1993) Frontal–subcortical circuits and human behavior. Arch Neurol 50:873–880

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • d’Aquili EG (1993) Apologia pro scriptura sua, or maybe we got it right after all. Zygon 28(2):251–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • d’Aquili EG, Newberg AB (1993) Religious and mystical states: a neuropsychological model. Zygon 28:177–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • d’Aquili EG, Newberg AB (1999) The mystical mind. Probing the biology of religious experience. Fortress, Minneapolis

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Onofrio BM, Eaves LJ, Murrelle L, Maes HH, Spilka B (1999a) Understanding biological and social influences on religious affiliation, attitudes, and behaviors: a behavior genetic perspective. J Pers 67:953–984. doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00079

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • D’Onofrio BM, Eaves LJ, Murrelle L, Maes HH, Spilka B (1999b) Understanding biological and social influences on religious affiliation, attitudes, and behaviors: a behavior genetic perspective. J Pers 67:953–984

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio AR (1995) On some functions of the human prefrontal cortex. Ann N Y Acad Sci 769:241–251. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1995.tb38142.x

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio AR (1999) The feeling of what happens: body and emotion in the making of consciousness. Harcourt Brace, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Damasio AR, Tranel D, Damasio H (1990) Individuals with sociopathic behavior caused by frontal damage fail to respond autonomically to social stimuli. Behav Brain Res 41:81–94. doi:10.1016/0166-4328(90)90144-4

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio AR, Grabowski TJ, Bechara A, Damasio H, Ponto LL, Parvizi J, Hichwa RD (2000) Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions. Nat Neurosci 3:1049–1056. doi:10.1038/79871

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Danbolt NC (2001) Glutamate uptake. Prog Neurobiol 65(1):1–105. doi:10.1016/S0301-0082(00)00067-8

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Davis KD, Taylor KS, Hutchison WD, Dostrovsky JO, McAndrews MP, Richter EO, Lozano AM (2005) Human anterior cingulate cortex neurons encode cognitive and emotional demands. J Neurosci 25(37):8402–8406

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • de Araujo IE, Rolls ET, Kringelbach ML, McGlone F, Phillips N (2003) Taste-olfactory convergence, and the representation of the pleasantness of flavour, in the human brain. Eur J Neurosci 18:2059–2068

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Decety J (1996) Do imagined and executed actions share the same neural substrate? Eur J Neurosci 3:87–93

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado MR, Nystrom LE, Fissell C, Noll DC, Fiez JA (2000) Tracking the hemodynamic responses to reward and punishment in the striatum. J Neurophysiol 84:3072–3077

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado MR, Locke HM, Stenger VA, Fiez JA (2003) Dorsal striatum responses to reward and punishment: effects of valence and magnitude manipulations. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 3:27–38

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Diduca D, Joseph S (1997) Schizotypal traits and dimensions of religiosity. Br J Clin Psychol 36:635–638

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dillbeck MC, Bronson EC (1981) Short-term longitudinal effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on EEG power and coherence. Int J Neurosci 14:147–151

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dolan RJ (1999) On the neurology of morals. Nat Neurosci 11:927–929

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dolcos F, Kragel P, Wang L, McCarthy G (2006) Role of the inferior frontal cortex in coping with distracting emotions. NeuroReport 17:1591–1594

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Doya K (2000) Metalearning, neuromodulation, and emotion. In: Hatano G, Okada N, Tanabe H (eds) Affective minds. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 101–104

  • Dworkin SF, Chen AC, LeResche L, Clark DW (1983) Cognitive reversal of expected nitrous oxide analgesia for acute pain. Anesth Analg 62:1073–1077

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves L (2004) Genetic and social influences on religion and values. In: Malcolm J (ed) From cells to souls—and beyond: changing portraits of human nature grand rapids. Eerdmans, MI, pp 102–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Eaves LJ, Martin NG, Heath AC (1990) Religious affiliation in twins and their parents: testing a model of cultural inheritance. Behav Genet 20:1–22

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Edelman GM, Tononi G (2000) A universe of consciousness: how matter becomes imagination. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlichman H, Wiener MS (1980) EEG asymmetry during covert mental activity. Psychophysiology 17:228–235

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eichenbaum H (2000) A cortical–hippocampal system for declarative memory. Nat Rev Neurosci 1:41–50

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott FA (1990) Neurology of aggression and episodic dyscontrol. Sem Neurol 10:303–312

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis GFR (2001) Quantum theory and the macroscopic world. In: Russell RJ, Clayton P, Wegter-McNelly K, Polkinghorne J (eds) Quantum mechanics. Scientific perspectives on divine action, vol 5. Vatican Observatory Publications/CTNS, Vatican City State/Berkeley, pp 259–291

  • Eslinger PJ (1999) Orbital frontal cortex: behavioral and physiological significance (part II). Neurocase 5:299–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eurostat survey (2005). Social values. Science & Technology, special EUROBAROMETER 225, June

  • Evans EM (2000) The emergence of beliefs about the origin of species in school-age children. Merrill Palmer Q 46:221–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans EM (2001) Cognitive and contextual factors in the emergence of diverse belief systems: creation versus evolution. Cognit Psychol 42:217–266

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eysenck HJ, Eysenck SBG (1976) Psychoticism as a dimension of personality. Hodder and Stoughton, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Faber PL, Lehmann D, Gianotti LRR, Kaelin M, Pascual-Marqui RD (2004, April) Scalp and intracerebral (LORETA) theta and gamma EEG coherence in meditation. Paper presented at the International Society for Neuronal Regulation, Winterthur, Switzerland

  • Fallon BA, Liebowitz MR, Hollander E, Schneier FR, Campeas RB, Fairbanks J et al (1990) The pharmacotherapy of moral or religious scrupulosity. J Clin Psychiatry 51:517–521

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman J, Rust J (1989) Religiosity, schizotypal thinking, and schizophrenia. Psychol Rep 65:587–593

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Felician O, Ceccaldi M, Didic M, Thinus-Blanc C, Poncet M (2003) Pointing to body parts: a double dissociation study. Neuropsychologia 41:1307–1316

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fenwick PB (1987) Meditation and the EEG. In: West MA (ed) The psychology of meditation. Clarendon Press, New York, pp 104–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenwick P, Galliano S, Coate MA, Rippere V, Brown D (1985) ‘Psychic’ sensitivity, mystical experience, head injury and brain pathology. Br J Med Psychol 58:35–44

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fergus F, Lothian A (1997) The way to eternity: Egyptian myth. Duncan Baird Publishers, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernstrom JD, Garattini S (1998) Introduction to the symposium proceedings. Presented at the International Symposium on Glutamate, Bergamo. Italy J Nutr 130:891S

  • Filley CM (1995) Neurobehavioral anatomy. University Press of Colorado, Niwot

    Google Scholar 

  • Fincham JM, Anderson JR (2006) Distinct roles of the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex in the acquisition and performance of a cognitive skill. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103(34):12941–12946

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fingelkurts AnA, Fingelkurts AlA (2001) Operational architectonics of the human brain biopotential field: towards solving the mind-brain problem. Brain Mind 2(3):261–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fingelkurts AnA, Fingelkurts AlA (2004) Making complexity simpler: multivariability and metastability in the brain. Int J Neurosci 114(7):843–862

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fingelkurts AnA, Fingelkurts AlA (2005) Mapping of the brain operational architectonics, chap 2. In: Chen FJ (ed) Focus on brain mapping research. Nova Science Publishers, Inc., New York, pp 59–98. http://www.bm-science.com/team/chapt3.pdf

  • Fingelkurts AnA, Fingelkurts AlA (2006) Timing in cognition and EEG brain dynamics: discreteness versus continuity. Cogn Process 7:135–162

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fingelkurts AnA, Fingelkurts AlA, Neves CFH (2009) Phenomenological architecture of a mind and operational architectonics of the brain: the unified metastable continuum. J New Math Nat Comput 5(1):221–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fink G, Markowitsch HJ, Reinkemeier M, Bruckbauer T, Kessler J, Heiss W-D (1996) Cerebral representation of one’s own past: neural networks involved in autobiographical memory. J Neurosci 16:4275–4282

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer R (1971) A cartography of understanding mysticism. Science 174:897–904

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fiske AP, Haslam N (1997) Is obsessive-compulsive disorder a pathology of the human disposition to perform socially meaningful rituals? Evidence of similar content. J Nerv Ment Dis 185:211–222

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Flavell JH (1979) Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: a new area of cognitive development inquiry. Am Psychol 34:906–911

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher PC, Happe F, Frith U (1995) Other minds in the brain: a functional imaging study of theory of mind in story comprehension. Cognition 57:109–128

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fowler JW (1981) Stages of faith. HarperCollins, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Francis LJ, Wilcox C (1996) Prayer, church attendance, and personality revisited: A study among 16- to 19-yr-old girls. Psychol Rep 79:1265–1266

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman WJ (2003) Evidence from human scalp electroencephalograms of global chaotic itinerancy. Chaos 13:1067–1077

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freese TE, Miotto K, Reback CJ (2002) The effects and consequences of selected club drugs. J Subst Abuse Treat 23:151–156

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frith C, Dolan R (1996) The prefrontal cortex in higher cognitive functions. Cogn Brain Res 5:175–181

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Frith CD, Frith U (1999) Interacting minds—a biological basis. Science 286:1692–1695

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fuster JM (1997) The prefrontal cortex: anatomy physiology and neuropsychology of the frontal lobe, 3rd edn. Lippincott–Raven, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuster JM (1999) Synopsis of function and dysfunction of the frontal lobe. Acta Psychiatr Scand 99:51–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabrieli JD, Poldrack RA, Desmond JE (1998) The role of left prefrontal cortex in language and memory. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95(3):906–913

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher HL, Happe F, Brunswick N, Fletcher PC, Frith U, Frith CD (2000) Reading the mind in cartoons and stories: an fMRI study of theory of mind in verbal and nonverbal tasks. Neuropsychologia 38:11–21

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gallemore JL Jr, Wilson WP, Rhoads JM (1969) The religious life of patients with affective disorder. Dis Nerv Syst 30:483–487

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gallup G, Castelli J (1990) Gallup religion poll. Los Angeles Times Syndicate, 7 September

  • Ganis G, Thompson WL, Kosslyn SM (2004) Brain areas underlying visual mental imagery and visual perception: an fMRI study. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 20:226–241

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gaylord C, Orme-Johnson D, Travis F (1989) The effects of the transcendental meditation technique and progressive muscle relaxation on EEG coherence, stress reactivity, and mental health in black adults. Int J Neurosci 46:77–86

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gazzaniga MS (1970) The bisected brain. Appleton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gazzaniga MS (2005) The ethical brain. Dana Press, New York, pp 220 (excerpt from pages 145–155)

  • Gemar MC, Kapur S, Segal ZV, Brown GM, Houle S (1996) Effects of self-generated sad mood on regional cerebral activity: a PET study in normal subjects. Depression 4:81–88

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • George MS, Ketter TA, Parekh PI, Herscovitch P, Post RM (1996) Gender differences in regional cerebral blood flow during transient self-induced sadness or happiness. Biol Psychiatry 40:859–871

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Getz GE, Fleck DE, Strakowski SM (2001) Frequency and severity of religious delusions in Christian patients with psychosis. Psychiatry Res 103:87–91

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Giancola PR, Zeichner A (1994) Neuropsychological performance on tests of frontal-lobe functioning and aggressive behavior in men. J Abnorm Psychol 103:832–835

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gijsbers AJ (2003) The dialogue between neuroscience and theology. Paper presented at the Conference on Science and Christianity (COSAC) held at Avondale College, Cooranbong, July

  • Glennon RA (1990) Do classical hallucinogens act as 5-HT2 agonists or antagonists? Neuropsychopharmacology 3:509–517

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Godefroy O, Cabaret M, Petit-Chenal V, Pruvo JP, Rousseaux M (1999) Control functions of the frontal lobes. Modularity of the central-supervisory system? Cortex 35:1–20

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goel V, Grafman J, Tajik J, Gana S, Danto D (1998) Modelling other minds. Brain 120:1805–1822

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman-Rakic PS (1987) Circuitry of primate prefrontal cortex and regulation of behaviour by representational memory. In: Mountcastle VB, Plum F, Geiger SR (eds) Handbook of physiology, vol vol 5. American Physiological Society, Bethesda, pp 373–417

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon H (1978) Left hemisphere dominance for rhythmic elements in dichotomically presented melodies. Cortex 14:58–70

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grafman J, Litvan I (1999) Importance of deficits in executive functions. Lancet 354:1921–1923

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grafman J, Schwab K, Warden D, Pridgen A, Brown HR, Salazar AM (1996) Frontal lobe injuries, violence, and aggression: a report of the Vietnam Head Injury Study. Neurology 46:1231–1238

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Greene JD, Sommerville RB, Nystrom LE, Darley JM, Cohen JD (2001) An fMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment. Science 293:2105–2108

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gribov IA (1988) Schöpferische Activität- Wesen and Voraussetzung vor dem Hintergrund der sowjetischen Hirnhemisphärenforschung. Dynamische psychiatrie 106(107):378–395

    Google Scholar 

  • Gribov IA (1992) Creativity and brain hemispheres: educational implications. Eur J High Ability 3:6–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossoehme DH, Cotton S, Leonard A (2007) Spiritual and religious experiences of adolescent psychiatric inpatients versus healthy peers. J Pastoral Care Counsel 61(3):197–204

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gusnard DA, Akbudak E, Shulman GL, Raichle ME (2001) Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activity: relation to a default mode of brain function. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:4259–4264

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen G, Jensen SB, Chandresh L, Hilden T (1988) The psychotropic effect of ketamine. J Psychoactive Drugs 20:419–425

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harris Interactive poll (2006) Retrieved from http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1131

  • Hay D (1990) Religious experience today: studying the facts. Mowbray, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hebert R, Lehmann D, Tan G, Travis F, Arenander A (2005) Enhanced EEG alpha time-domain phase synchrony during Transcendental Meditation: implications for cortical integration theory. Signal Process 85:2213–2232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hossein Nasr S, Leaman O (1996) History of Islamic philosophy. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hood RW Jr, Spilka B, Hunsberger B, Corsuch R (1996) The psychology of religion: an empirical approach, 2nd edn. Guilford, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingvar DH (1985) Memory of the future: an essay on the temporal organization of conscious awareness. Hum Neurobiol 4:127–136

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ingvar DH (1991) How shall we measure regional brain work? In: Lassen NA, Ingvar DH, Raichle ME, Friberg L (eds) Brain work and mental activity. Munksgaard, Copenhagen, pp 346–359

    Google Scholar 

  • Ito S, Stuphorn V, Brown JW, Schall JD (2003) Performance monitoring by the anterior cingulate cortex during saccade countermanding. Science 302(5642):120–122

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • James W (1902) The varieties of religious experience. Longmans, Green & Company, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jasper H, Penfield W (1954) Epilepsy and the functional anatomy of the human brain, 2nd edn edn. Brown and Co, Little, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • John ER (2001) A field theory of consciousness. Conscious Cogn 9:184–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • John ER (2002) The neurophysics of consciousness. Brain Res Brain Res Rev 39:1–28

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson SC, Baxter LC, Wilder LS, Pipe JG, Heiserman JE, Prigatano GP (2002) Neural correlates of self-reflection. Brain 125:1808–1814

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Joseph R (2001) The limbic system and the soul. Evolution and the neuroanatomy of religious experience. Zygon (J Relig Sci) 36:105–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jung CG, von Franz M-L (1964) Man and his symbols. Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahn D, Stickgold R, Pace-Schott EF, Hobson JA (2000) Dreaming and waking consciousness: a character recognition study. Sleep Res 9(4):317–325

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kallio S, Revonsuo A (2003) Hypnotic phenomena and altered states of consciousness: a multilevel framework of description and explanation. Contemp Hypn 20:111–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan AYa, Fingelkurts AnA, Fingelkurts AlA, Borisov SV, Darkhovsky BS (2005) Nonstationary nature of the brain activity as revealed by EEG/MEG: methodological, practical and conceptual challenges. Signal Process 85:2190–2212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karnath H-O (2001) New insights into the functions of the superior temporal cortex. Nat Rev Neurosci 2:568–576

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Katz Z (1971) Sociology of religion in the USSR: a beginning? Slavic Rev 30(4):870–875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelemen D (2004) Are children ‘‘intuitive theists’’? Reasoning about purpose and design in nature. Psychol Sci 15(5):295–301

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelemen D, Callanan M, Casler K, Pérez-Granados D (2005) Why things happen: teleological explanation in parent–child conversations. Dev Psychol 41:251–264

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley WM, Macrae CN, Wyland CL, Caglar S, Inati S, Heatherton TF (2002) Finding the self? An event-related fMRI study. J Cogn Neurosci 14:785–794

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim J (1992) “Downward causation” in emergentism and nonreductive physicalism. In: Beckermann A, Flohr H, Kim J (eds) Emergence of reduction? Essays on the prospects of nonreductive physicalism. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, pp 119–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim K, Hwu H, Zhang LD, Lu MK, Park KK, Hwang TJ, Kim D, Park YC (2001) Schizophrenic delusions in Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei: a transcultural study. J Korean Med Soc 16:88–94

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • King RAH (2005) Common to body and soul: Philosophical approaches to explaining living behaviour in Greco-Roman antiquity. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirk KM, Eaves LJ, Martin NG (1999) Self-transcendence as a measure of spirituality in a sample of older Australian twins. Twin Res 2:81–87

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kjaer TW, Nowak M, Kjaer KW, Lou AR, Lou HC, John F (2001) Precuneus-prefrontal activity during awareness of visual verbal stimuli. Conscious Cogn 10(3):356–365

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kjaer TW, Bertelsen C, Piccini P, Brooks D, Alving J, Lou HC (2002) Increased dopamine tone during meditation-induced change of consciousness. Cogn Brain Res 13:255–259

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Klaf FS, Hamilton JG (1961) Schizophrenia—a hundred years ago and today. J Ment Sci 107:819–827

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Klima G (1984) Libellus pro Sapiente: a criticism of Allan Bäck’s argument against St. Thomas Aquinas’s theory of the incarnation. New Scholasticism 58:207–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight RT, Garbowecky M (1995) Escape from linear time: prefrontal cortex and conscious experience. In: Gazzaniga MS (ed) The cognitive neurosciences. MIT Press, Boston, pp 1357–1371

    Google Scholar 

  • Koenig HG, Cohen HJ (eds) (2002) The link between religion and health: psychoneuroimmunology and the faith factor. Oxford University Press, oxford

  • Koenig HG, McCullough ME, Larson DB (2001) Handbook of religion and health. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlmetz C, Kopiez R, Altenmuller E (2003) Stability of motor programs during a state of meditation: electrocortical activity in a pianist playing ‘Vexations’ by Erik Satie continuously for 28 hours. Music Psychol Res 31(2):173–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kringelbach ML, O’Doherty J, Rolls ET, Andrews C (2003) Activation of the human orbitofrontal cortex to a liquid food stimulus is correlated with its subjective pleasantness. Cereb Cortex 13:1064–1071

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krippner S, Jaeger C, Faith L (2001) Identifying and utilizing spiritual content in dream reports. Dreaming 11:127–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kroll J, Sheehan W (1989) Religious beliefs and practices among 52 psychiatric in patients in Minnesota. Am J Psychiatry 146:67–72

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krummenacher P, Brugger P, Fahti M, Mohr C (2002) Dopamine, paranormal ideation, and the detection of meaningful stimuli. Poster presentation at the 3rd Forum of European Neuroscience, Paris, France, July

  • Kune GA, Kune S, Watson LF (1993) Perceived religiousness is protective for colorectal cancer: data from the Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study. J R Soc Med 86:645–647

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lane RD, Nadel L (2000) Cognitive neuroscience of emotion. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lane RD, Fink GR, Chau PML, Dolan RJ (1997a) Neural activation during selective attention to subjective emotional responses. NeuroReport 8:3969–3972

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lane RD, Reiman EM, Ahern GL, Schwartz GE, Davidson RJ (1997b) Neuroanatomical correlates of happiness, sadness, and disgust. Am J Psychiatry 154:926–933

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lane RD, Reiman EM, Axelrod B, Yun LS, Holmes A, Schwartz GE (1998) Neural correlates of levels of emotional awareness. Evidence of an interaction between emotion and attention in the anterior cingulate cortex. J Cogn Neurosci 10:525–535

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lapierre D, Braun CMJ, Hodgings S (1995) Ventral frontal deficits in psychopathy: neuropsychological test findings. Neuropsychologia 33:139–151

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Larson DB, Swyers JP, McCullough ME (eds) (1998) Scientific research on spirituality and health: a consensus report. National Institute for Healthcare Research, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Leary T (1964) The religious experience. Psychedelic Rev 1:324–346

    Google Scholar 

  • Leary T, Clark WH (1963) Religious Implications of consciousness expanding drugs. Relig Educ 58(2):251–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehar S (2003) Gestalt isomorphism and the primacy of subjective conscious experience: a gestalt bubble model. Behav Brain Sci 26:375–408

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann D, Faber PL, Achermann P, Jeanmonod D, Gianotti RR, Pizzagalli D (2001) Brain sources of EEG gamma frequency during volitionally meditation-induced, altered states of consciousness, and experience of the self. Psychiatry Res 108:111–121

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Levy J, Trevarthen C (1976) Metacontrol of hemispheric function in human split-brain patients. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2:299–312

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Levy R, Friedman HR, Davachi L, Goldman-Rakic PS (1997) Differential activation of the caudate nucleus in primates performing spatial and nonspatial working memory tasks. J Neurosci 17(10):3870–3882

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis CA (1994) Religiosity and obsessionality: the relationship between Freud’s ‘‘religious practices’’. J Psychol 128:189–196

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis-Williams JD, Dowson T (1988) The signs of the times: entopic phenomena in Upper Paleolithic art. Curr Anthropol 29:201–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liebovici L (2001) Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: randomised controlled trial. Br Med J 323:1450–1451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lobusov EV, Fingelkurts AlA, Fingelkurts AnA, Kaplan AYa (2001) EEG analysis of deep relaxation states induced by QiGong practice. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta (Bull Mosc Univ). Biology 3(16):36-43 (in Russian)

    Google Scholar 

  • Logan RK (2006) The extended mind model of the origin of language and culture. In: Nathalie G, Jean P, Van B, Diederik A (eds) Evolutionary epistemology, language and culture. Springer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Luria AR (1966) Higher cortical functions in man. Basic Books, New York

  • Lutz A, Lachaux JP, Martinerie J, Varela FJ (2002) Guiding the study of brain dynamics by using first-person data: synchrony patterns correlate with ongoing conscious states during a simple visual task. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:1586–1591

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luu P, Posner MI (2003) Anterior cingulate cortex regulation of sympathetic activity. Brain 126(10):2119–2120

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacDonald DA, Holland D (2002) Spirituality and complex partial epileptic-like signs. Psychol Rep 91:785–792

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maddock RJ (1999) Retrosplenial cortex and emotion. New insights from functional imaging of the human brain. TINS 22:310–316

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maddock RJ, Garrett AS, Buonocore MH (2003) Posterior cingulate cortex activation by emotional words: fMRI evidence from a valence decision task. Hum Brain Mapp 18:30–41

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Makarec K, Persinger MA (1985) Temporal lobe signs: electroencephalographic validity and enhanced scores in special populations. Percept Mot Skills 60(3):831–842

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maltby J (1997) Personality correlates of religiosity among adults in the Republic of Ireland. Psychol Rep 81:827–831

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mandell A (1980) Toward a psychobiology of transcendence: God in the brain. In: Davidson JM, Davidson RJ (eds) The psychobiology of consciousness. Plenum, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Markowitsch HJ, Vandekerckhovel MM, Lanfermann H, Russ MO (2003) Engagement of lateral and medial prefrontal areas in the ecphory of sad and happy autobiographical memories. Cortex 39:643–665

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marks L (2005) Religion and bio-psycho- social health: a review and conceptual model. J Relig Health 44(2):173–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall P (2005) Mystical encounters with the natural world. Experiences and explanations. Oxford University Press, pp 324

  • Matthews DA, Marlowe SM, Macnutt FS (2000) Effects of prayer on patients with rheumatoid arthritis. South Med J 93(12):1177–1186

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McDougall I, Brown FH, Fleagle JG (2005) Stratigraphic placement and age of modern humans from Kibish, Ethiopia. Nature 433:733–736

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGuire PK, Silbersweig DA, Frith CD (1996a) Functional neuroanatomy of verbal self-monitoring. Brain 119:907–917

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McGuire PK, Paulesu E, Frackowiak RSJ, Frith CD (1996b) Brain activity during stimulus independent thought. Neuroreport 7:2095–2099

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McIntosh AR, Fitzpatrick SM, Friston KJ (2001) On the marriage of cognition and neuroscience. NeuroImage 14:1231–1237

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meck WH (1996) Neuropharmacology of timing and time perception. Cogn Brain Res 3:227–242

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Menn A (1997) History of religion. In search of direction, truth, and life, vol II. Moscow, Slovo, p 463

    Google Scholar 

  • Menn A (1999) Father Alexander Menn answering questions. Alexander Menn Foundation, Moscow, p 318

    Google Scholar 

  • Mesulam M-M (1986) Frontal cortex and behavior. Ann Neurol 19:320–325

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Metcalfe J, Shimamura AP (1994) Metacognition: knowing about knowing. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Miotto EC, Bullock P, Polkey CE, Morris RG (1996) Spatial working memory and strategy formation in patients with frontal lobe excisions. Cortex 32:613–630

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mithen S (1996) The prehistory of the mind: the cognitive origins of art and science. Thames and Hudson, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Mithen S (1999) Symbolism and the supernatural. In: Dunbar R, Knight C, Power C (eds) The evolution of culture. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, pp 147–171

    Google Scholar 

  • Moghaddam B (2003) Bringing order to the glutamate chaos in schizophrenia. Neuron 40(5):881–884

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morneau DM, MacDonald DA, Holland CJ (1996) A confirmatory study of the relation between self-reported complex partial epileptic signs, peak experiences and paranormal beliefs. Br J Clin Psychol 35:627–630

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morris JS, Ohman A, Dolan RJ (1999) A subcortical pathway to the right amygdala mediating ‘‘unseen’’ fear. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:680–1685

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muhammad Ali M (2002) The Holy Qur’an with English translation and commentary. Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at Islam Lahore Inc, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller GE (1896) Zur psychophysik der gesichtsempfindungen. Zeitschrift für Psychologie 10:1–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Muramoto O (2004) The role of the medial prefrontal cortex in human religious activity. Med Hypotheses 62:479–485

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ndetei DM, Vadher A (1985) Content of grandiose phenomenonology across cultures. Acta Psychiatr Scand 72:38–39

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Neggers SF, Van der Lubbe RH, Ramsey NF, Postma A (2006) Interactions between ego- and allocentric neuronal representations of space. Neuroimage 31(1):320–331

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nevskaja AA, Leushina LI (1990) Hemispheres asymmetry and visual images recognition. Nauka, Leningrad

    Google Scholar 

  • Newberg AB, d’Aquili EG (1994) The near death experience as archetype: a model for ‘prepared’ neurocognitive processes. Anthropol Conscious 5:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newberg AB, d’Aquili EG (2000) The neuropsychology of religious and spiritual experience. J Conscious Stud 7(11–12):251–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Newberg AB, Lee BY (2005) The neuroscientific study of religious and spiritual phenomena: or why god doesn’t use biostatistics. Zygon 40(2):469–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newberg AB, d’Aquili EG, Rause VP (2001a) Why God won’t go away: brain science and the biology of belief. Ballantine, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Newberg AB, Alavi A, Baime M, Pourdehnad M, Santanna J, d’Aquili E (2001b) The measurement of regional cerebral blood flow during the complex cognitive task of meditation: a preliminary SPECT study. Psychiatry Res 2:113–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Newberg AB, Pourdehnad M, Alavi A, d’Aquili EG (2003) Cerebral blood flow during meditative prayer: preliminary findings and methodological issues. Percept Mot Skills 97:625–630

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Norenzayan A, Heine SJ (2005) Psychological universals: what are they and how can we know? Psychol Bull 131(5):763–784

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nunez PL (2000) Toward a quantitative description of large-scale neocortical dynamic function and EEG. Behav Brain Sci 23:371–437

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Olson JM, Vernon PA, Harris JA, Jang KL (2001) The heritability of attitudes: a study of twins. J Pers Soc Psychol 809(6):845–860

    Google Scholar 

  • Ornstein R (1972) The psychology of consciousness. WH Freeman, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Oser FK (1991) The development of religious judgement. New Dir Child Dev 52:5–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Padoa-Schioppa C, Assad JA (2006) Neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex encode economic value. Nature 441(7090):223–226

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pagano RR, Warrenburg S (1983) Meditation: in search of a unique effect. In: Davidson RJ, Schwartz GE, Shapiro D (eds) Consciousness and self-regulation, vol 3. Plenum Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Pardo JV, Pardo PJ, Raichle ME (1993) Neural correlates of self-induced dysphoria. Am J Psychiatry 150:713–719

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Perry EK, Perry RH (1995) Acetylcholine and hallucinations: disease-related compared to drug-related alterations in human consciousness. Brain Cogn 28:240–258

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Persinger MA (1984) People who report religious experiences may also display enhanced temporal-lobe signs. Percept Mot Skills 58:963–975

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Persinger MA (1991) Preadolescent religious experience enhances temporal lobe signs in normal young adults. Percept Mot Skills 72:453–454

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Persinger MA (1993) Vectorial cerebral hemisphericity as differential sources for the sensed presence, mystical experiences and religious conversions. Percept Mot Skills 76(3 Pt 1):915–930

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Persinger MA, Makarec K (1987) Temporal lobe epileptic signs and correlative behaviors displayed by normal populations. J Gen Psychol 1114:179–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters E, Day S, McKenna J, Orbach G (1999) Delusional ideation in religious and psychotic populations. Br J Clin Psychol 38:83–96

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Previc FH (2006) The role of the extrapersonal brain systems in religious activity. Conscious Cogn 15:500–539

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pribram KH (1973) The primate frontal cortex—executive of the brain. In: Pribram KH, Luria AR (eds) Psychophysiology of the frontal lobes. Academic Press, New York, pp 293–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Proudfoot W (1985) Religious experience. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Radin D, Nelson R (2002) October) Meta-analysis of mind-matter interaction experiments, 1959 to 2000. In: Chez RA (ed) Proceedings for participants of the conference on the science and spirituality of healing. Home Moravian Church, Old Salem, pp 54–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Raine A, Yang Y (2006) Neural foundations to moral reasoning and antisocial behavior. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 1:203–213

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rechtschaffen A, Verdone P, Wheaton J (1963a) Reports of mental activity during sleep. Can Psychiatr Assoc J 8:409–414

    Google Scholar 

  • Rechtschaffen A, Vogel G, Shaikun G (1963b) Interrelatedness of mental activity during sleep. Arch Gen Psychiatry 9:536–547

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reiman EM, Lane RD, Ahern GL, Schwartz GE, Davidson RJ, Friston KJ, Yun LS, Chen K (1997) Neuroanatomical correlates of externally and internally generated human emotion. Am J Psychiatry 154:918–925

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Revonsuo A (1995) Consciousness, dreams, and virtual realities. Philos Psychol 8:35–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Revonsuo A (2001) Can functional brain imaging discover consciousness in the brain? J Conscious Stud 8:3–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Revonsuo A (2006) Inner presence. Consciousness as a biological phenomenon. The MIT Press, Cambridge

  • Richert RA, Barrett JL (2006) The child’s God and cognitive development. The encyclopaedia of spiritual development in childhood and adolescence. Sage Publishing, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts AC, Wallis JD (2000) Inhibitory control and affective processing in the prefrontal cortex: neuropsychological studies in the common marmoset. Cereb Cortex 10:252–262

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson E (1983) The original vision: a study of the religious experience of childhood. Harper San Francisco, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson I (2000) Can an atheist have a religious experience. Aust Ration 54:5–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Rohde E (1925) Psyche: the cult of souls and the belief in immortality among the Greeks. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rolls ET, Kringelbach ML, de Araujo IE (2003) Different representations of pleasant and unpleasant odours in the human brain. Eur J Neurosci 18:695–703

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rolston H (2005) Genes, brains, minds: the human complex, chap 1. In: Bulkeley K (ed) Soul, psyche, brain: new directions in the study of religion and brain-mind science. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp 10–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Roman RE, Lester D (1999) Religiosity and mental health. Psychol Rep 85:1088

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rosse RB, Collins JP Jr, Fay-McCarthy M, Alim TN, Wyatt RJ, Deutsch SI (1994) Phenonemonologic comparison of the idiopathic psychosis of schizophrenia and drug-induced cocaine and phencyclidine psychoses: a retrospective study. Clin Neuropharmacol 17:359–369

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roth BL, Baner K, Westkaemper R, Siebert D, Rice KC, Steinberg S, Ernsberger P, Rothman RB (2002) Salvinorin A: a potent naturally occurring nonnitrogenous kappa opioid selective agonist. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:11934–11939

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ruby P, Decety J (2003) What you believe versus what you think they believe: a neuroimaging study of conceptual perspective-taking. Eur J Neurosci 17:2475–2480

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ruby P, Sirigu A, Decety J (2002) Distinct areas in parietal cortex involved in long-term and short-term action planning: a PET investigation. Cortex 38(3):321–339

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rueckert L, Grafman J (1996) Sustained attention deficits in patients with right frontal lesions. Neuropsychologia 34:953–963

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Runehov ALC (2004) Sacred or neural: neuroscientific explanations of religious experience. A philosophical evaluation. Uppsala University Press, Uppsala

    Google Scholar 

  • Runions JE (1979) The mystic experience: A psychiatric reflection. Can J Psychiatry 24:147–151

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sarter M, Bruno JP (1998) Cortical acetylcholine, reality distortion, schizophrenia, and Lewy Body dementia: too much or too little cortical acetylcholine? Brain Cogn 38:297–316

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saver JL, Rabin J (1997) The neural substrates of religious experience. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 9:498–510

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saxe R, Kanwisher N (2003) People thinking about thinking people. The role of the temporo-parietal junction in “theory of mind”. NeuroImage 19:1835–1842

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saxe R, Wexler A (2005) Making sense of another mind: the role of the right temporoparietal junction. Neuropsychologia 43:1391–1399

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saxe R, Carey S, Kanwisher N (2004) Understanding other minds: linking developmental psychology and functional neuroimaging. Annu Rev Psychol 55:1–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuman M (1980) The psychophysiological model of meditation and altered states of consciousness: a critical review. In: Davidson JM, Davidson RJ (eds) The psychobiology of consciousness. Plenum Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Seiter C (2002) Transferred potentials—fact or artefact? Results of a pilot study. Paper presented at the Conference “Toward a Science of Consciousness”, Tucson, AZ, April

  • Shallice T, Evans ME (1978) The involvement of the frontal lobes in cognitive estimation. Cortex 14:294–303

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shallice T, Fletcher P, Frith CD, Grasby P, Frackowiak RSJ, Dolan RJ (1994) Brain regions associated with acquisition and retrieval of verbal episodic memory. Nature 368:633–635

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shaner A (1999) Delusions, superstitious conditioning and chaotic dopamine dynamics. Med Hypotheses 52:119–123

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman SM (2005) The role of the thalamus in cortical function: not just a simple relay. Thalamus Relat Syst 3:205–216

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman SM, Guillery RW (2005) Exploring the thalamus and its role in cortical function, 2nd edn. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Sim MK, Tsoi WF (1992) The effects of centrally acting drugs on the EEG correlates of meditation. Biofeedback Self Regul 17:215–220

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith C, Denton ML (2005) Soul searching: the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Smythies J (1999a) The biochemical basis of coma. Psycoloquy 10(026) ftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/Psycoloquy/1999.volume.10/psyc.99.10.026.coma-biochemistry.1.smythies http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/cgi/psyc/newpsy?10.026

  • Smythies J (1999b) Redox mechanisms at the glutamate synapse and their significance: a review. Eur J Pharmacol 370:1–7

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sosis R (2000) Religion and intragroup cooperation: preliminary results of a comparative analysis of utopian communities. Cross Cult Res 34(1):77–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sosis R, Bressler E (2003) Co-operation and commune longevity: a test of the costly signaling theory of religion. Cross Cult Res 37(2):11–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer J (1975) The mental health of Jehovah’s witnesses. Br J Psychiatry 126:556–559

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sperber D (1996) Explaining culture: a naturalistic approach. Blackwell, Oxford

  • Sperry RW, Gazzaniga M, Bogen I (1969) Interhemispheric relationships: the neocortical commissures, syndromes of hemisphere disconnection. In: Vinken PJ, Bruyn GW (eds) Handbook of clinical neurology, vol 4: disorders of speech, perception, and symbolic behaviour. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 237−290

    Google Scholar 

  • Spilka B, Hood R, Gorsuch R (1984) The psychology of religion: an empirical approach. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs

    Google Scholar 

  • States BO (2000) Dream bizarreness and inner thought. Dreaming 10(4):179–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stower L, Ryan MA (1998) Vision of the whole child: the significance of religious experiences in early childhood. Aust J Early Child 23(1):1–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuss DT, Benson DF (1984) Neuropsychological studies of the frontal lobes. Psychol Bull 95:3–28

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swinburne R (1986) The evolution of the soul. Clarendon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi T, Murata T, Hamada T, Omori M, Kosaka H, Kikuchi M, Yoshida H, Wad Y (2005) Changes in EEG and autonomic nervous activity during meditation and their association with personality traits. Int J Psychophysiol 55:199–207

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tamminen K (1994) Religious experiences in childhood and adolescence: a viewpoint of religious development between the ages of 7 and 20. Int J Psychol Relig 4:61–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taves A (2005) Religious experience. In: Encyclopedia of religion, vol 11, 2nd edn. Macmillan, New York, pp 7736–7750

  • Taylor JG (2001) The central role of the parietal lobes in consciousness. Conscious Cogn 10(3):379–417

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tek C, Ulug B (2001) Religiosity and religious obsessions in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Res 104:99–108

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Telles S, Nagarathna R, Nagendra HR (1998) Autonomic changes while mentally repeating two syllables—one meaningful and the other neutral. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 42(1):57–63

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tolin DF, Abramowitz JS, Kozak MJ, Foa EB (2001) Fixity of belief, perceptual aberration, and magical ideation in obsessive–compulsive disorder. J Anxiety Disord 15:501–510

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Travis F (2001) Autonomic and EEG patterns distinguish transcending from other experiences during Transcendental Meditation practice. Int J Psychophysiol 42:1–9

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Travis F, Wallace RK (1999) Autonomic and EEG patterns during eyes-closed rest and Transcendental Meditation (TM) practice: the basis for a neural model of TM practice. Conscious Cogn 8:302–318

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Trinkaus E, Shipman P (1993) The neandertals: changing the image of mankind. Alfred A. Knopf Pub, New York, pp 454

    Google Scholar 

  • Truett KR, Eaves LJ, Meyer JM, Heath AC, Martin NG (1992) Religion and Education as mediators of attitudes: a multivariate analysis. Behav Genet 22:43–62

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tsapakis EM, Travis MJ (2002) Glutamate and psychiatric disorders. Adv Psychiatr Treat 8:189–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tulving E, Kapur S, Craik FIM, Markowitsch HJ, Houle S (1994) Hemispheric encoding/retrieval assymetry in episodic memory: positron emission tomography findings. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91:2016–2020

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Unger M (1963) Mescaline, LSD, psilocybin and personality change. Psychiatry J Study Interpers Process 26(2):111–125

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vandenberghe R, Nobre AC, Price CJ (2002) The response of left temporal cortex to sentences. J Cogn Neurosci 14(4):550–560

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Varela FJ (1996) Neurophenomenology, a methodological remedy for the hard problem. J Conscious Stud 3:330–349

    Google Scholar 

  • Varela FJ, Thompson E (2003) Neural synchrony and the unity of mind: a neurophenomenological perspective. In: Cleeremans A (ed) The unity of consciousness. Oxford University Press, London, pp 266–287

    Google Scholar 

  • Varela F, Lachaux J-P, Rodriguez E, Martinerie J (2001) The brainweb: Phase synchronization and large-scale integration. Nat Rev Neurosci 2:229–239

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Verdoux H, van Os J, Maurice-Tison S, Gay B, Salamon R, Bourgeois M (1998) Is early adulthood a critical developmental stage for psychosis proneness. A survey of delusional ideation in normal subjects. Schizophr Res 29:247–254

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vogt BA, Finch DM, Olson CR (1992) Functional heterogeneity in cingulated cortex: the anterior executive and posterior evaluative regions. Cereb Cortex 2:435–443

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wackermann J (2004) Dyadic correlations between brain functional states: present facts and future perspectives. Mind Matter 2(1):105–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner AD, Pare-Blagoev EJ, Clark J, Poldrack RA (2001) Recovering meaning: left prefrontal cortex guides controlled semantic retrieval. Neuron 31(2):329–338

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Waller NG, Kojetin BA, Bouchard TJ, Lykken DT, Telelgen A (1990) Genetic and environmental influences on religious interests, attitudes, and values. Psychol Sci 1:138–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warfield JN (1977) Crossing theory and hierarchy mapping. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern SMC- 7:505–523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe M (1996) Reward expectancy in primate prefrontal neurons. Nature 382:629–632

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe S, Huber L (2006) Animal logics: Decisions in the absence of human language. Anim Cogn 9:235–245

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waxman SG, Geschwind N (1975) The interictal behavior syndrome of temporal lobe epilepsy. Arch Gen Psychiatry 32:1580–1586

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • West MA (1987) The psychology of meditation. Clarendon Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • White J, Joseph S, Neil A (1995) Religiosity, psychoticism, and schizotypal traits. Pers Individ Diff 19:847–851

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wildman W, Brothers L (1999) A neuro-psychological-semiotic model of religious experiences. In: Russel RJ, Murphy N, Meyering TC, Arbib MA (eds) Neuroscience and the person. Scientific perspectives on divine action, vol 4. Vatican Observatory Publications/CTNS, Vatican City State/Berkeley, pp 347–416

  • Wright P (1989) The Nature of the shamanic state of consciousness: a review. J Psychoactive Drugs 21(1):25–33

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wuerfel J, Krishnamoorthy ES, Brown RJ, Lemieux L, Koepp M, Tebartz van Elst L, Trimble MR (2004) Religiosity is associated with hippocampal but not amygdala volumes in patients with refractory epilepsy. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 75:640–642

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wuthnow R (1992) Rediscovering the sacred. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI

    Google Scholar 

  • Youde F (2003) Body and soul: comparative studies in biblical Judaism, Greek philosophy and Medieval Christianity. Twenty-first world congress of philosophy, 10–17 August 2003, Istanbul, Turkey

  • Zald DH, Kim SW (1996) The anatomy and function of the orbito-frontal cortex I: anatomy, neurocircuitry, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 8:125–138

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

This work was partly supported by BM-Science Centre. Special thanks to Simon Johnson for skilful language editing.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. BM-Science, Brain and Mind Technologies Research Centre, PO Box 77, 02601, Espoo, Finland

    Alexander A. Fingelkurts & Andrew A. Fingelkurts

Authors
  1. Alexander A. Fingelkurts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrew A. Fingelkurts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander A. Fingelkurts.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fingelkurts, A.A., Fingelkurts, A.A. Is our brain hardwired to produce God, or is our brain hardwired to perceive God? A systematic review on the role of the brain in mediating religious experience. Cogn Process 10, 293–326 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-009-0261-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-009-0261-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation