Research Links Damage to Brain Network with Increased Religious Fundamentalism

A recent scientific study has discovered that harm to a particular area of the brain may cause individuals to adopt religious fundamentalism. Researchers arrived at this conclusion by examining patients with focal brain lesions.

Person’s Religious Beliefs 

Until now, most studies have concentrated on social and environmental factors, such as family upbringing and cultural influences, in shaping a person’s religious beliefs. However, the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examines how genetic factors and brain function might affect religiosity.

Michael Ferguson, the study’s corresponding author and an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School, as well as the director of Neurospirituality Research at the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, stated to PsyPost that he discovered a connection between specific brain networks and religious fundamentalism.

“My primary interest is and has been mystical experience. But in the process researching the cognitive neuroscience of mystical experience, I came across brain network associations with religious fundamentalism,” he stated, reported by Wionews.

Analysis Of How Brain Lesions Might Relate To Religious Beliefs

For their research, scientists utilized a technique known as lesion network mapping. This technology helps identify connections between different brain regions and shows how damage to one area can disrupt related brain functions.

Two large groups of individuals with focal brain damage were then chosen to analyze how brain lesions might relate to religious beliefs.

The first group primarily consisted of war veterans who had experienced traumatic brain injuries, while the second group included patients with brain damage from various causes, such as strokes, surgical resections, or traumatic head injuries.

Both groups then completed a scale designed to assess religious fundamentalism. Following this, the specific locations of their brain lesions were mapped using advanced technologies such as computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Results Of The Analysis 

It was discovered that damage to the right hemisphere of the brain was linked to higher scores on the religious fundamentalism scale.

“The strength and reproducibility of the signal between psychological self-report measures of religious fundamentalism and the functional networks we identified in the brain surprised me. It increases confidence in the results,” Ferguson told PsyPost.

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