Steps Toward a Neurophenomenology of Speaking in Tongues
Josh Brahinsky, Michael Lifshitz, Tanya Marie Luhrmann
The Oxford Handbook of Psychedelic, Religious, Spiritual, and Mystical Experiences June 20, 2024 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192844064.013.18 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study with neuroimaging experiment Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Evangelical Christian tongues-speakers |
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | The combination of ethnographic phenomenology and neuroscience revealed shifts in the experience of speaking in tongues, termed 'dropping in,' which deepened understanding of tongues prayer. |
Abstract
Abstract This chapter aims to show that working back and forth between neuroscientific methods and ethnographic phenomenology can inspire us to think differently. We discuss a neurophenomenological project to improve our understanding of the evangelical Christian practice of speaking in tongues. After several years of ethnographic participant observation in tongues-speaking churches, we interviewed tongues-speakers carefully. As we developed a neuroimaging experiment to try to capture what we heard from them, our interdisciplinary approach pushed us to notice shifts in the experience of speaking in tongues, which we came to call “dropping in.” The combination of ethnographic phenomenology and neuroscience brought us a deeper understanding of tongues prayer in ways we did not expect.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Deep-Dream Virtual Reality Platform for Studying Altered Perceptual Phenomenology | 2017 | Experimental study | |
| New World Tryptamine Hallucinogens and the Neuroscience of Ayahuasca. | 2018 | Review with original neuroimaging and neurophysiological data | |
| Differential contributions of serotonergic and dopaminergic functional connectivity to the phenomenology of LSD Healthy adults | 2022 | Secondary analysis of experimental data | n = 15 |
| TMS-EEG and resting-state EEG applied to altered states of consciousness: oscillations, complexity, and phenomenology. | 2023 | Experimental study | |
| Training novice practitioners to reliably report their meditation experience using shared phenomenological dimensions. Novice meditation practitioners | 2019 | Neurophenomenological experiment |
Citations in the library
Cites 11
- Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance Psychopharmacology July 7, 2006
- REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics Pharmacological Reviews June 20, 2019
- Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later Journal of Psychopharmacology May 30, 2008
- The Varieties of Self-Transcendent Experience Review of General Psychology May 1, 2017
- Guiding the study of brain dynamics by using first-person data: Synchrony patterns correlate with ongoing conscious states during a simple visual task Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 22, 2002
and 6 more in the library