Damage to brain network linked with increased religious fundamentalism: Study
Right hemisphere of brain was associated with higher scores on religious fundamentalism scale
(Web Desk) - A recent science study has found that damage to a specific part of brain may lead people to become religious fundamentalists. Researchers reached the conclusion by analysing patients with focal brain lesions.
So far, most of the studies have focused on social and environmental factors like family upbringing and cultural influence in developing an individual’s religious beliefs. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on how genetic factors or brain function may influence religiosity.
Study corresponding author Michael Ferguson, who is an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School and director of Neurospirituality Research at the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, was quoted as saying by PsyPost that he indeed found a link between certain brain network and religious fundamentalism.
“My primary interest is and has been mystical experience. But in the process researching the cognitive neuroscience of mystical experience, I came across brain network associations with religious fundamentalism,” he said.
For research purposes, scientists relied upon a method called lesion network mapping. The technology helps identify how different regions of the brain are linked, and how damage to one area might disrupt related brain functions.
Then, two large groups of individuals with focal brain damage were selected to analyse how brain lesions might be interconnected to religious beliefs.
The first group mainly had war veterans who had suffered traumatic brain injuries. The second group had patients on board who got their brain damaged from various causes, such as strokes, surgical resections, or traumatic head injuries.
Then, both groups completed a scale designed to measure religious fundamentalism.
Later, the precise locations of their brain lesions was measured using advanced technology like computerised tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
It was found that damage to the right hemisphere was associated with higher scores on the religious fundamentalism scale.
“The strength and reproducibility of the signal between psychological self-report measures of religious fundamentalism and the functional networks we identified in the brain surprised me,” Ferguson told PsyPost. “It increases confidence in the results.”
