The Neural Correlates of Religious and Nonreligious Belief
Sam Harris, Jonas Kaplan, Ashley Curiel, Susan Y. Bookheimer, Marco Iacoboni, Mark S. Cohen
PLoS One September 30, 2009 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007272 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 173 |
| Key findings | The neural difference between belief and disbelief is content-independent, applying equally to religious and nonreligious statements. |
Abstract
While religious and nonreligious thinking differentially engage broad regions of the frontal, parietal, and medial temporal lobes, the difference between belief and disbelief appears to be content-independent. Our study compares religious thinking with ordinary cognition and, as such, constitutes a step toward developing a neuropsychology of religion. However, these findings may also further our understanding of how the brain accepts statements of all kinds to be valid descriptions of the world.