The mouth of God: the impact of religious training on story recall in Tibetan Buddhists

Abstract

ABSTRACT Numerous studies have indicated that religious systems have a profound impact on individuals’ perceptions, emotions, and cognitive processes. The current research investigates the effects of religious upbringing and training on story recall in Tibetan Buddhists, specifically focusing on the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions. Based on the observation that the lineage of the Kagyu emphasizes a continuity of oral instructions passed on from master to student, we predicted that Kagyu monks would demonstrate a higher ability of recalling stories than Nyingma monks, even in a non-religious context. Supporting our theoretical perspective, the results showed that Kagyu monks recalled a significantly greater proportion of a folktale than Nyingma monks under the oral-presentation condition. However, the two groups of participants showed no significant differences in their story-recall performance under the written-presentation condition. These findings are consistent with the core values of the Kagyu tradition that gives central prominence to the oral dissemination of Buddhism teachings. This study presents the first empirical evidence for the notion that religious differences are associated with meaningful variations in narrative and memory skills for stories.