If you have
ever found yourself face to face with a ghost or seemed to float through time
and space in an out-of-body experience, then you are one of the many who has
had a mystical experience. Mystical experiences are thought to be the backbone
of religious beliefs and have occurred across all cultures throughout human
history. Although they are such a widely reported phenomenon, very little
research has actually been done on why exactly they happen.
Dr. Jordon
Grafman of Northwestern University conducted a study examining the neural
correlates of mystical experiences. Previous research has indicated that the
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) may be important in regulating mystical
experiences.
In earlier studies, the dlPFC showed decreased activity during
prayer or religious exercise. Stronger activity of the dlPFC has also appeared
in skeptics compared to believers, suggesting that believers might experience
down-regulation in the dlPFC (Grafman). Using this knowledge, Dr. Grafman and
his colleagues studied patients with brain injuries to the dlPFC or temporal
lobes and predicted that impairment of the dlPFC would be associated with
greater mystical experiences and that lesions to the temporal cortex would be
associated with less mystical experiences. The results of the study indicated
that their predictions were correct. Patients with lesions to the temporal
cortex did not differ with healthy controls in amount of mystical experiences,
while patients with focal lesions to the dlPFC experienced far more mystical
experiences (Grafman). According to the authors of the study, these results
could imply that the dlPFC plays a role in constraining naïve interpretations
of the meaning of perceptual experiences. That is, the dlPFC prevents us from
jumping to conclusions and labeling hard to explain phenomenon as supernatural.
David Rand, head of Yale
University’s Human Cooperation Laboratory has another theory as to why some
people might be more religious than others, and therefore more prone to
mystical experiences. According to Rand, whether a person is deliberative or
intuitive is the deciding factor on one’s level of religiousness. A
deliberative person is more likely to think carefully and find a rational
reason for his or her choices, while an intuitive person will often just go
with his or her gut. Intuitive people, according to a study by Rand, are more
likely to be religious or have a stronger belief in God (TIME). In his study, Rand and
his colleagues used the Cognitive Reflection Test, which measured a person’s
level of intuition and deliberation based on how they answered questions.
Intuitive answers made some sort of sense, but were ultimately incorrect. Those
who made more intuitive answers typically had a stronger belief in God (TIME).
Therefore, patterns of thinking can determine how religious one is or
isn’t.
So, if someone is intuitive and
seems to see a ghost, that person is more likely to interpret that scenario as
mystical rather than try and come up with a more logical explanation. Is this
related at all to Dr. Grafman’s study and the dlPFC? Possibly. If the dlPFC
prevents us from making intuitive answers, could it be that deliberative people
simply have a more active dlPFC? I’ll leave that question here for further
research.
Sources
Basu, T. (2015, September 22). Here's Why Some
People Are More Religious than Others. TIME. Retrieved from
http://time.com/4038407/religion-intuition-deliberation/
Cristifori, I.,
Bulbulia, J., Shaver, J. H., Wilson, M., Krueger, F., & Grafman, J. (206).
Neural correlates of mystical experience. Neuropsychologica ,80, 212-220.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.11.021
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