ArticleBiological psychiatry2022
A Neural Circuit for Spirituality and Religiosity Derived From Patients With Brain Lesions.
Article in Biological psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Autonomic nervous system activity correlates with peak experiences induced by DMT and predicts increases in well-being.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- European Association for Palliative Care White Paper on spiritual care for people with neuro-oncological and neurodegenerative conditions: Integrative framework for practice, education, and research.Palliative & supportive care · 2026Review
- From mother to infant: a case report exploring postpartum depression through a cross-cultural lens in Qatar.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Cognitive outcomes of deep brain stimulation depend on age and hippocampal connectivity in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Mapping Lesion-Related Human Aggression to a Common Brain Network.Biological psychiatry · 2025Article
- Article
- 'Nurses as Gatekeepers': Nurses' Responses to Spiritual Needs of Patients with Primary Malignant Brain Tumors in Austria-Analysis of a Qualitative Vignette Study.Journal of religion and health · 2025Article
- Lesion and lesion network localization of dysnomia after epilepsy surgery.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Article
- Oceanic feelings and their relationship to spirituality and personality organization.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- A review of the neuroscience of religion: an overview of the field, its limitations, and future interventions.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Editorial: Spirituality and religion: implications for mental health.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- On the wings of Icarus - the need for transcendence in addictive diseases.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Oceanic states of consciousness-an existential-neuroscience perspective.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Voluntary and involuntary motor behaviours in the varieties of religious experience.Brain communications · 2025Review
- A neural network for religious fundamentalism derived from patients with brain lesions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Article
- A neural circuit for spatial orientation derived from brain lesions.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Review
- The power of belief? Evidence of reduced fear extinction learning in Catholic God believers.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Is there an affective neuroscience of spirituality? The development and validation of the OCEANic feelings scale.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- Belief in omens and superstitions among patients with chronic neurological disorders.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOver 80% of the global population consider themselves religious, with even more identifying as spiritual, but the neural substrates of spirituality and religiosity remain unresolved.
methodsIn two independent brain lesion datasets (N
resultsWe found that brain lesions associated with self-reported spirituality map to a brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray. Intersection of lesion locations with this same circuit aligned with self-reported religiosity in an independent dataset and previous reports of lesions associated with hyper-religiosity. Lesion locations causing delusions and alien limb syndrome also intersected this circuit.
conclusionsThese findings suggest that spirituality and religiosity map to a common brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray, a brainstem region previously implicated in fear conditioning, pain modulation, and altruistic behavior.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.