Thread by @neuromichael

(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.

(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.

(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).

(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).

(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).

(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.

(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.

Special thanks to my fantastic co-authors
@fredschaper3, @DrDrXanderLi, @shansiddiqi, @jaredniels, @LoveSexPsych, & mentor/senior author @foxmdphd. #science #neuroscience #spirituality #religion #neurospirituality #brain #mind #medicine #psychiatry #neurology