Abstract
Behavioral neurologists have long been interested in changes in religiosity following circumscribed brain lesions. Advances in neuroimaging and cognitive experimental techniques have been added to these classical lesion-correlational approaches in attempt to understand changes in religiosity due to brain damage. In this paper we assess processing dynamics of religious cognition in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). We administered a four-condition story-based priming procedure, and then covertly probed for changes in religious belief. Story-based priming emphasized mortality salience, religious ritual, and beauty in nature (Aesthetic). In neurologically intact controls, religious belief-scores significantly increased following the Aesthetic prime condition. When comparing effects of right (RO) versus left onset (LO) in PD patients, a double-dissociation in religious belief-scores emerged based on prime condition. RO patients exhibited a significant increase in belief following the Aesthetic prime condition and LO patients significantly increased belief in the religious ritual prime condition. Results covaried with executive function measures. This suggests lateral cerebral specialization for ritual-based (left frontal) versus aesthetic-based (right frontal) religious cognition. Patient-centered individualized treatment plans should take religiosity into consideration as a complex disease-associated phenomenon connected to other clinical variables and health outcomes.
Highlights
In the 1970s, a flurry of reports ignited interest in brain-religion relationships [1,2,3,4,5]
We investigated whether modulation of religiosity via priming techniques would differ in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) as compared to neurologically intact controls
We found that modulation of religiosity levels among PD patients was reduced relative to the controls
Summary
In the 1970s, a flurry of reports ignited interest in brain-religion relationships [1,2,3,4,5] These early investigators described a subgroup of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) as expressing intense religious obsessions and preoccupations. In a recent exhaustive review of the literature Devinsky and Lai (2008) largely agree with Trimble and Freeman’s (2006) report that interictal religiosity may be linked with bilateral temporal lobe seizure foci [7,8]. A recent review of the literature on changes in religiosity in patients with schizophrenia and with fronto-temporal dementia suggested a link between enhanced religiosity and right frontal temporal networks [10]
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