Physiological Foundations for Religious Experiences in Devotional Worship Practices with Music Using Heart Rate and Respiration Rate Analyses.

Yoshija Walter,Andreas Altorfer

doi:10.3390/ejihpe12020011

Abstract

The present study investigates the psychophysiological activation patterns of religious experiences in worship practices using Heart Rate (HR) and Respiratory Rate (RR) analyses. For this, 60 evangelical individuals participated in an experiment where they worshipped to six selected conditions and continuously indicated how strongly they sensed what they believed to be the presence of God. These ratings were correlated with the biometric data to indicate whether the experience has an activating effect on the believer’s vegetative system (activation hypothesis) or a soothing effect thereupon (pacification hypothesis). Statistical analyses showed that the psychological disposition during the religious worship experience speeds up the physiological responses, which was indicated by increases in HR and RR. Hence, the activation hypothesis was accepted, and the pacification hypothesis was rejected.

Highlights

In the 1970s and 1980s, a perspective called biogenic structuralism arose to bridge the gaps between the neurosciences, anthropology, and phenomenology
For the proponents of the theory, it was clear that all things cognitive had to emerge from the brain and that the physiology of the brain itself was dictated by its structural basis
The current analyses showed that the activation hypothesis can be accepted and that the pacification hypothesis must be rejected

Summary

Introduction

In the 1970s and 1980s, a perspective called biogenic structuralism arose to bridge the gaps between the neurosciences, anthropology, and phenomenology It assumed that many features typically discussed and described by psychologists, sociologists, and the humanities are in principle predisposed by genetic functions and eventually the organization of the nervous system. It was unifying in the sense that many different topics from an array of disciplines could be subsumed in one line of research—the study of the brain and its structural variants. Since it was primarily a biological idea, the theory was strongly influenced by evolutionary thought, especially since our hominid encephalization was generally assumed to be key for the emergence of distinct human qualities, such as communication, learning, social interactions, and mentation. Structuralism had its advantages, it was not unilaterally well received since it seemed rather simplistic to assume that external and interaction factors would not play significant roles in the development of human thoughts, actions, and experiences [2,3,4,5]

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