Neural correlates of religious experience

  1. Nina P. Azari1,2,
  2. Janpeter Nickel1,
  3. Gilbert Wunderlich1,3,
  4. Michael Niedeggen4,
  5. Harald Hefter1,
  6. Lutz Tellmann3,
  7. Hans Herzog3,
  8. Petra Stoerig4,
  9. Dieter Birnbacher5,
  10. Rüdiger J. Seitz1

Article first published online: 20 DEC 2001

DOI: 10.1046/j.0953-816x.2001.01527.x

Issue

European Journal of Neuroscience

European Journal of Neuroscience

Volume 13, Issue 8, pages 1649–1652, April 2001

Additional Information

How to Cite

Azari, N. P., Nickel, J., Wunderlich, G., Niedeggen, M., Hefter, H., Tellmann, L., Herzog, H., Stoerig, P., Birnbacher, D. and Seitz, R. J. (2001), Neural correlates of religious experience. European Journal of Neuroscience, 13: 1649–1652. doi: 10.1046/j.0953-816x.2001.01527.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Neurology, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Germany

  2. 2

    The Iliff School of Theology/University of Denver, 2201 S, University Blvd, Denver, Colorado 80210, USA

  3. 3

    Institute of Medicine, Research Center, D-52407 Jülich, Germany

  4. 4

    Department of Physiological Psychology, Heinrich-Heine-University, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany

  5. 5

    Philosophical Institute, Heinrich-Heine-University, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany

* : Dr Nina P. Azari, 2The Iliff School of Theology, as above. E-mail: nazari@du.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 20 DEC 2001
  2. Article first published online: 20 DEC 2001
  3. Received 12 December 2000, revised 8 February 2001, accepted 13 February 2001

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Keywords:

  • brain;
  • human;
  • neuroimaging;
  • PET;
  • religion

Abstract

The commonsense view of religious experience is that it is a preconceptual, immediate affective event. Work in philosophy and psychology, however, suggest that religious experience is an attributional cognitive phenomenon. Here the neural correlates of a religious experience are investigated using functional neuroimaging. During religious recitation, self-identified religious subjects activated a frontal–parietal circuit, composed of the dorsolateral prefrontal, dorsomedial frontal and medial parietal cortex. Prior studies indicate that these areas play a profound role in sustaining reflexive evaluation of thought. Thus, religious experience may be a cognitive process which, nonetheless, feels immediate.

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