People who report intense religious experiences also show a range of behaviors linked to the temporal lobe, consistent with the hypothesis that such experiences arise from endogenous electrical stimulation in that brain region. Across two studies of first-year university students, those who reported religious experiences scored higher on questionnaire clusters containing temporal-lobe symptoms, regardless of church attendance in one study. They were also more likely to keep a diary and enjoy poetry. However, they did not score higher on clusters of mundane psychological or proprioceptive statements, odd sensations, or a modified MMPI Lie scale, indicating the effect is specific to temporal-lobe-related phenomena.
University students who meditated, primarily using Transcendental Meditation, reported more frequent experiences resembling complex partial epilepsy—such as vibrations, hearing their name called, paranormal phenomena, profound reactions to poetry or prose, and religious experiences—compared to non-meditators. Among meditators, longer practice correlated with more of these signs and a sensed presence, but not with control, olfactory, or perseverative experiences. These findings support the idea that practices promoting cognitive kindling can increase complex partial epileptic-like signs.
Among university students surveyed over 15 years, about 7% said they would kill if God commanded it, a proportion that remained stable across years. Men were slightly more likely than women to answer yes. For men who attended church weekly, reported a religious experience, and showed elevated signs resembling complex partial epilepsy—5.7% of all males—44% said they would kill if God told them to.
People who report having a religious experience before adolescence show more frequent and varied signs of temporal lobe activity in adulthood. Among 868 university psychology students surveyed over 10 years, the 19% who reported such an early experience also more often reported depersonalization, belief in psi phenomena, sensations of presence, sensitivity to odors, widened affect, childhood imaginary playmates, and left-handedness. These individuals were also more likely to experience confusion of boundaries between themselves, other people, and cosmic forces. The findings suggest that an earlier onset of temporal lobe transients may facilitate a broader range of temporal lobe signs later in life.