Michael Ferguson 🧠🕊 Profile picture
Jun 29, 2021 13 tweets 7 min read Read on X
(1/12) New article! I'm very pleased to share our most recent report: A neural circuit for spirituality and religiosity derived from patients with brain lesions. Here is my Twitter summary of our findings...

biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-…
(2/12) Over 80% of the global population consider themselves religious or spiritual, but neural substrates remain unresolved. In two independent datasets (N1=88; N2=105), brain lesions associated with spirituality map to a brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal grey.
(3/12) Spirituality (or, more precisely “spiritual acceptance”) is measured by the Temperament and Character Inventory using a series of True or False self-report items. Lesion locations associated with changes in spirituality occur in many different brain locations. Image
(4/12) The peak voxelwise association between lesion connectivity and changes in spiritual acceptance was identified. Functional connectivity with this peak was computed to derive a brain circuit for spirituality. Image
(5/12) We cross-validated these results with two independent datasets: PAG peaks in two independent discovery sets (p1<0.001; p2<0.002) and functional connectivity to lesion locations in the opposite datasets both correspond to religiosity (p<0.01) & spirituality (p<0.02). Image
(6/12) Conjunction of lesion network mapping results using different analysis approaches shows consistent localization to the PAG (i.e., connectomes processed either with or without global signal regression). Image
(7/12) Our brain circuit for spiritual acceptance aligns with prior literature on hyper-religiosity (top row, a – d) & brain regions previously associated with seizure-induced hyper-religiosity (e). Image
(8/12) Lesion locations associated w/other neurological & psychiatric symptoms also intersect our spirituality circuit: parkinsonism lesions were similar to lesions associated with non-religiosity; alien limb & delusion lesions were similar to lesions associated with religiosity. Image
(9/12) It is important to note that a shared neural substrate between two phenomena may be helpful for understanding shared features and associations, but these results should not be over-interpreted...
(10/12) ...For example, our results do not imply that religion is a delusion, that historical religious figures suffered from alien limb syndrome, or that Parkinson’s disease arises due to a lack of religious faith.
(11/12) The PAG has been implicated in numerous functions including fear conditioning, pain modulation, altruistic behaviors & unconditional love. These findings are convergent with the hypothesis that spiritual beliefs facilitated prosociality over the course of human evolution.
(12/12) Conclusions: Our study maps spirituality & religiosity to a brain circuit defined by periaqueductal grey connectivity. This circuit aligns with case reports of hyper-religiosity, lesions associated w/strongly-held fixed beliefs, & feelings of control by an external agent. Image

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More from @neuromichael

Dec 29, 2023
(1/11) 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭: 𝘈 𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴
🧠🧵⤵️

biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
(2/11) Religious fundamentalism is a topic of worldwide concern. It is characterized by rigid adherence to a set of beliefs putatively revealing inerrant truths. It is ubiquitous across cultures and has a global impact on society. Image
(3/11) Here, we analyzed brain lesions associated with varying levels of religious fundamentalism in two large datasets from independent laboratories. Image
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