Scientists Seek Religious Experience - in Subjects' Brains

[cbayer]

http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-c1-religion-brain-20150107-story.html#page=1

By GEOFFREY MOHAN contact the reporter Scientific Research Fiction Television Industry University of Utah University of Arizona Alzheimer's Disease

January 7, 2015 3:00 AM

At the push of a button, the gurney holding Auriel Peterson slides slowly into the pale blue glow of a magnetic resonance imaging machine. Soon, all that's visible are the shins of her black track pants and the chartreuse-and-white soles of her running shoes, angled like the fins of a torpedo.

Behind a window in an adjacent room, a splayed-out cauliflower pattern appears on a computer screen in black and white. It's Peterson's brain. And it's probably the last thing about this exercise that will be so simply shaded.

From Peterson's perspective, the next hour will be spent in service, like the day she packed donated eyeglasses to send to Zimbabwe. But the ardent Mormon also knows she could be adding to a centuries-old debate about God and science.

So she says a silent prayer: "I hope they get what they need."

more at link

[trotsky]

1. Well, they are looking in the right place.

Should be interesting to see the results.

[pinto]

2. Fascinating article.

I have a long, personal interest in neural pathways. This research probably will add to the whole picture. And, as Newberg says, "There's still value in doing those studies, even if the study doesn't answer the big question — does God exist."

[cbayer]

3. I also thought it was fascinating.

One thing I hope we will eventually see is how brain function may differ between believers, non-believers and everything in between. It would also be really interesting to see if brain function changes as someone moves from one category to another.

I don't think it will ever answer the existence of god question, but it might tell us about how and why people are different when it comes to religious beliefs.

[pinto]

4. My gut response is that brain function changes as one moves from one place to another.

The science is beyond my skill set but I get the concept of adaptation and change as a mutual event. I think that's a given.

And, yeah, it's interesting if there is some basis for different perceptions of believers, non-believers and those in between those poles.

[cbayer]

5. It's interesting that they are studying Mormons.

I would wonder if they see something different between different kinds of believers or whether the patterns are essentially similar.