TY - JOUR
T1 - Cognitive and neural foundations of religious belief
AU - Kapogiannis, Dimitrios
AU - Barbey, Aron K.
AU - Su, Michael
AU - Zamboni, Giovanna
AU - Krueger, Frank
AU - Grafman, Jordan
PY - 2009/3/24
Y1 - 2009/3/24
N2 - We propose an integrative cognitive neuroscience framework for understanding the cognitive and neural foundations of religious belief. Our analysis reveals 3 psychological dimensions of religious belief (God's perceived level of involvement, God's perceived emotion, and doctrinal/experiential religious knowledge), which functional MRI localizes within networks processing Theory of Mind regarding intent and emotion, abstract semantics, and imagery. Our results are unique in demonstrating that specific components of religious belief are mediated by well-known brain networks, and support contemporary psychological theories that ground religious belief within evolutionary adaptive cognitive functions.
AB - We propose an integrative cognitive neuroscience framework for understanding the cognitive and neural foundations of religious belief. Our analysis reveals 3 psychological dimensions of religious belief (God's perceived level of involvement, God's perceived emotion, and doctrinal/experiential religious knowledge), which functional MRI localizes within networks processing Theory of Mind regarding intent and emotion, abstract semantics, and imagery. Our results are unique in demonstrating that specific components of religious belief are mediated by well-known brain networks, and support contemporary psychological theories that ground religious belief within evolutionary adaptive cognitive functions.
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.0811717106
DO - 10.1073/pnas.0811717106
M3 - Article
C2 - 19273839
AN - SCOPUS:63849207252
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 106
SP - 4876
EP - 4881
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 12
ER -