Abstract
A quest orientation to religion is characterized by a search for answers to complex existential questions, a perception of religious doubt as positive, and an openness to change one’s religious views as one grows and changes. This orientation is inversely related to fundamentalism, authoritarianism, and prejudice and directly related to cognitive complexity, openness to experience, and prosociality. To date, the neural correlates of religious quest have not been investigated. This study assessed the relationships between measures linked to white-matter integrity and quest religious orientation among 24 healthy participants using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and the quest scale. A tract-based spatial statistical analysis whole-brain-corrected initially employing an accepted threshold (pTFCE < 0.05) and then applying a Bonferroni correction (pTFCE < 0.0042) identified a region of the genu of the corpus callosum as showing radial diffusivity measures being related to openness to change religious beliefs. When not employing a Bonferroni correction (pTFCE < 0.05), the openness-to-change subscale of the quest scale negatively correlated with radial diffusivity and mean diffusivity measures in extensive white-matter regions in both hemispheres that include the corpus callosum body, genu, and splenium, superior longitudinal fasciculus, forceps minor, external capsule, and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. No relationships were found with the other subscales. These findings suggest that a greater openness to change one’s religious views is associated with better white-matter integrity specifically in the genu of the corpus callosum and likely in a more extensive set of white-matter structures interconnecting widespread cortical and subcortical regions in the brain across hemispheres. They, furthermore, suggest structural similarities that may link this tendency to associated positive psychological traits, including creative cognition and post-traumatic growth.
Highlights
Proposed as a third fundamental approach to religion along with Gordon Allport’s intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, quest orientation refers to a form of religiosity that embraces honesty, doubt, and openness in the face of existential questions and complex life circumstances (Batson and Schoenrade, 1991)
The capacity for cognitive flexibility is associated with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activity and prefrontal measures related to white-matter integrity (Badre and Wagner, 2006; Nyhus and Barceló, 2009). These findings suggest that connections bilaterally in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the corpus callosum, and other cortical and subcortical brain regions may serve as a neural feature underlying religious quest
This study aimed to investigate in a preliminary fashion the relationships between measures related to white-matter integrity and aspects of quest orientation to religion
Summary
Proposed as a third fundamental approach to religion along with Gordon Allport’s intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, quest orientation refers to a form of religiosity that embraces honesty, doubt, and openness in the face of existential questions and complex life circumstances (Batson and Schoenrade, 1991). Despite the centrality of this orientation to religion and its association with a number of positive psychological traits, which include prosociality, openness to experience, and post-traumatic growth (Calhoun et al, 2000; Batson et al, 2001; Simpson et al, 2010), little is known about the neural structures that support this type of religiosity. Quest religious orientation is associated with the personality trait of openness to experience (Simpson et al, 2010) Those with this orientation tend to have both greater cognitive complexity and preference for cognitive consistency (Batson and Raynor-Prince, 1983; Barrett et al, 2005). In the aftermath of traumatic life events, the degree of post-traumatic growth has been found to directly correlate with the quest domain of openness to change religious views (Calhoun et al, 2000)
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