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Neuroscientists must not be afraid to study religion

Scientists interested in the brain have tended to avoid studying religion or spirituality for fear of being seen as unscientific. That needs to change.

Since then, however, brain-imaging studies have shown — unsurprisingly — that religious and spiritual experiences and practices (such as prayer) are associated with the upregulation and downregulation of neural activity in multiple regions in the brain (see Fig. The effects of brain lesions — such as those resulting from a stroke — provide more evidence that neural networks involved in self-awareness and social cognition are linked with religious or spiritual beliefs and practices. The data suggest that altering the activity of circuits that are normally regulated by serotonin signalling, including those in the DMN, can affect people’s sense of self, their feelings of connectedness with others and with nature, and the likelihood that they will report an encounter with a supernatural agent 12, 13.

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