Sunday, January 01, 2017 10:25:49 PM
Religious People: The Ultimate Collection
Published on Apr 25, 2013 by Andrew Skegg [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnTq3js9WIkajKJDXVpQCkw / http://www.youtube.com/user/askegg , http://www.youtube.com/user/askegg/videos ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHlK5FAgmyM [with comments]
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This is your brain on God: Spiritual experiences activate brain reward circuits
Credit: University of Utah Health Sciences
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw02dTJ5RMA (non-YouTube version embedded in the original; no comments yet)]
University of Utah Health Sciences
Public Release: 29-Nov-2016
SALT LAKE CITY - Religious and spiritual experiences activate the brain reward circuits in much the same way as love, sex, gambling, drugs and music, report researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine [ http://healthsciences.utah.edu/ ]. The findings will be published Nov. 29 in the journal Social Neuroscience [ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17470919.2016.1257437 ].
"We're just beginning to understand how the brain participates in experiences that believers interpret as spiritual, divine or transcendent," says senior author and neuroradiologist Jeff Anderson, M.D., Ph.D [ http://healthcare.utah.edu/fad/mddetail.php?physicianID=u0281911 ]. "In the last few years, brain imaging technologies have matured in ways that are letting us approach questions that have been around for millennia."
Specifically, the investigators set out to determine which brain networks are involved in representing spiritual feelings in one group, devout Mormons, by creating an environment that triggered participants to "feel the Spirit." Identifying this feeling of peace and closeness with God in oneself and others is a critically important part of Mormons' lives -- they make decisions based on these feelings; treat them as confirmation of doctrinal principles; and view them as a primary means of communication with the divine.
During fMRI scans, 19 young-adult church members -- including seven females and 12 males -- performed four tasks in response to content meant to evoke spiritual feelings. The hour-long exam included six minutes of rest; six minutes of audiovisual control (a video detailing their church's membership statistics); eight minutes of quotations by Mormon and world religious leaders; eight minutes of reading familiar passages from the Book of Mormon; 12 minutes of audiovisual stimuli (church-produced video of family and Biblical scenes, and other religiously evocative content); and another eight minutes of quotations.
During the initial quotations portion of the exam, participants -- each a former full-time missionary -- were shown a series of quotes, each followed by the question "Are you feeling the spirit?" Participants responded with answers ranging from "not feeling" to "very strongly feeling."
Researchers collected detailed assessments of the feelings of participants, who, almost universally, reported experiencing the kinds of feelings typical of an intense worship service. They described feelings of peace and physical sensations of warmth. Many were in tears by the end of the scan. In one experiment, participants pushed a button when they felt a peak spiritual feeling while watching church-produced stimuli.
"When our study participants were instructed to think about a savior, about being with their families for eternity, about their heavenly rewards, their brains and bodies physically responded," says lead author Michael Ferguson, Ph.D., who carried out the study as a bioengineering graduate student at the University of Utah.
Based on fMRI scans, the researchers found that powerful spiritual feelings were reproducibly associated with activation in the nucleus accumbens, a critical brain region for processing reward. Peak activity occurred about 1-3 seconds before participants pushed the button and was replicated in each of the four tasks. As participants were experiencing peak feelings, their hearts beat faster and their breathing deepened.
In addition to the brain's reward circuits, the researchers found that spiritual feelings were associated with the medial prefrontal cortex, which is a complex brain region that is activated by tasks involving valuation, judgment and moral reasoning. Spiritual feelings also activated brain regions associated with focused attention.
"Religious experience is perhaps the most influential part of how people make decisions that affect all of us, for good and for ill. Understanding what happens in the brain to contribute to those decisions is really important," says Anderson, noting that we don't yet know if believers of other religions would respond the same way. Work by others suggests that the brain responds quite differently to meditative and contemplative practices characteristic of some eastern religions, but so far little is known about the neuroscience of western spiritual practices.
The study is the first initiative of the Religious Brain Project, launched by a group of University of Utah researchers in 2014, which aims to understand how the brain operates in people with deep spiritual and religious beliefs.
###
In addition to Anderson and Ferguson, co-authors include Jared Nielsen from Harvard University, and Jace King, Li Dai, Danielle Giangrasso, Rachel Holman, and Julie Korenberg from the University of Utah.
The study was funded by the Davis Endowed Chair in Radiology at the University of Utah, and the National Institute of Mental Health, and published [ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17470919.2016.1257437 ] as "Reward, Salience, and Attentional Networks are Activated by Religious Experience in Devout Mormons" in Social Neuroscience on Nov. 29, 2016.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-11/uouh-tiy111816.php
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Reward, salience, and attentional networks are activated by religious experience in devout Mormons
Published online: 29 Nov 2016
Abstract
High-level cognitive and emotional experience arises from brain activity, but the specific brain substrates for religious and spiritual euphoria remain unclear. We demonstrate using functional magnetic resonance imaging scans in 19 devout Mormons that a recognizable feeling central to their devotional practice was reproducibly associated with activation in nucleus accumbens, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and frontal att.entional regions. Nucleus accumbens activation preceded peak spiritual feelings by 1–3 s and was replicated in four separate tasks. Attentional activation in the anterior cingulate and frontal eye fields was greater in the right hemisphere. The association of abstract ideas and brain reward circuitry may interact with frontal attentional and emotive salience processing, suggesting a mechanism whereby doctrinal concepts may come to be intrinsically rewarding and motivate behavior in religious individuals.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17470919.2016.1257437
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The brain on God
fMRI scans recorded brain activity as devoutly religious study participants read quotes from spiritual leaders or watched religious imagery.
Credit: University of Utah Health Sciences.
Several brain regions become active when devoutly religious study participants reported having a spiritual experience, including a reward circuit, the nucleus accumbens.
Credit: Jeffrey Anderson
Brain imaging reveals that spiritual experiences activate reward circuits.
by Maarten Rikken
29th November 2016
Religious and spiritual experiences activate the brain’s reward circuits in a similar way to love, gambling, and music, a new study [ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17470919.2016.1257437 ] finds. Researchers used fMRI scans to look at the brains of 19 devout Mormons as they engaged in an experience described as "feeling the Spirit." This feeling was reproducibly associated with activation in nucleus accumbens, a critical region for processing reward and pleasure in the brain.
We spoke to the study’s senior author, neuroradiologist Jeffrey S Anderson [ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeffrey_Anderson3 ].
ResearchGate: What motivated this study?
Jeffrey Anderson: Billions of people make decisions based on religious and spiritual experiences. Such experiences are central to the maintenance of religious beliefs and convictions. Yet, despite how important these experiences are to people across faith traditions and cultures, we know almost nothing about how the brain participates in these experiences.
RG: What did you discover?
Anderson: In a group of devout Mormons, a spiritual experience they describe as "feeling the Spirit" is associated with activation in a reproducible network of brain regions. These regions include the nucleus accumbens, a critical region for processing reward and pleasure in the brain. We also found activation in attentions associated with perception of salience or novelty in the brain, and in regions that are associated with focused attention.
In one experiment, we had individuals press a button while watching audiovisual stimuli when they felt peak spiritual feelings. Activation in the nucleus accumbens spiked 1-3 seconds before they pressed the button, suggesting that there is a close relationship between spiritual feelings and brain reward activation. The centrality of reward in brain responses to spiritual feelings suggest that one view of religious training might align with classical conditioning, where association of positive feedback, music, and social rewards with religious beliefs or doctrines may lead to these doctrines becoming intrinsically rewarding. These same mechanisms may help explain attachment to religious leaders and ideals.
RG: How might these mechanisms play out in practice?
Anderson: Once you place religious experience in the context of brain reward circuits, it suggests that religious training can induce feelings of reward in response to doctrines or ideals or religious leaders. There's no reason one can't suppose that any doctrine from "love your neighbor" to "follow your leader" to "inflict violence on the out-group" might not be trained to induce reward. It may be that a Lutheran woman in Minnesota and an ISIS follower in Syria might experience the same feelings in the same brain regions for completely different belief systems, with very different social consequences.
RG: Can you briefly describe how you conducted the study?
Anderson: We obtained functional MRI images while showing the participants stimuli including prayer, readings of religiously-themed quotations and scripture, and audiovisual stimuli produced by the Mormon church designed to evoke spiritual feelings. After the imaging sessions, participants reported that the feelings they experienced during the scan were comparable to an intense worship service or private religious practice. Many were in tears after the scan.
RG: What was the most challenging aspect of the study?
Anderson: We were unsure how successful we would be at reproducing sincere spiritual experiences in a laboratory setting. Although an MRI scanner can be loud and artificial, it is also a private place where people can be alone with their thoughts and feelings. We were surprised at both how intense our volunteers reported their experiences to be and how reproducible the identified brain network was. This was replicated independently in four separate experiments.
RG: Why did you select Mormons? Do you think the brain reward could differ across religions?
Anderson: We chose Mormons because of the centrality in their theology and practice of charismatic spiritual feelings. It can't be overstated how important these feelings are to devout Mormons. They report experiencing these feelings frequently, and our volunteers had each served 1-2 year missions in which recognizing their own thoughts and feelings when they were "feeling the Spirit" was a daily activity.
We don't know how similar the experience of spiritual feelings is across different religious groups, but there are good reasons to expect that a similar library of brain responses may be shared across cultures. A similar region to the one we observed was seen in a study involving prayer in Danish Christians. Other early studies suggest a key role for brain reward centers in religious experience.
RG: Could this feeling be reproduced in people who are not religious? Are there comparable non-religious feelings?
Anderson: I believe that feelings associated with patriotism and nationalism will show tremendous similarity in brain responses to ecstatic religious experience. Anecdotally, people who are not religious use similar language to describe feelings associated with peace and joy when in nature or contemplating profound ideas about science. We know that similar regions are activated during appreciation of music, experience of romantic and parental love, and winning at gambling.
RG: Is it possible that some people could be more prone to being affected by religion in this way than others?
Anderson: This is very likely. In our study, we found that some brain regions were more active in some individuals than in others. For example, activity in the insula during spiritual experiences varied across individuals, and these differences in activity correlated with moral values reported by those same individuals in questionnaires after the study. We expect that the differences from individual to individual may tell us about how different people and groups may differ in their perception of spiritual feelings.
RG: What was it like working with the volunteers?
Anderson: We appreciate the willingness of our participants to share their time and feelings. It can be intimidating and vulnerable to allow deeply held beliefs to be studied, and their courageous involvement made our study possible.
© 2016 researchgate.net
https://www.researchgate.net/blog/post/the-brain-on-god
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U. study: Spiritual experiences associated with brain's reward center
Neuroradiologist Jeff Anderson, pictured at the Imaging & Neurosciences Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016, discusses his research on how religious and spiritual experiences activate the brain reward circuits.
Published: Nov. 29, 2016 Updated: Nov. 29, 2016
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668195/U-study-Spiritual-experiences-associated-with-brains-reward-center.html?pg=all
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What your brain looks like on God: spiritual experience triggers same areas as sex and gambling
Having a spiritual experience makes the same areas of the brain light up as romantic love or addiction.
29 November 2016
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/11/29/brain-looks-like-god-spiritual-experience-triggers-areas-sex/ [with comments]
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Believing in God can trigger the same reward regions of the brain as taking drugs
19 Mormons, all of whom had spent one to two years carrying out missionary work, were hooked up to functional MRI machines while working on specific tasks.
Brain scans have shown that religious experiences activate the same neural systems as drug taking
30 Nov 2016
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/mormons-experience-religion-like-drug-takers-feel-highs-neuroscientists-say
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Godstuff: Crazy TV Preachers - with Joe Bob Briggs
Published on Apr 26, 2013 by Christian Comedy Channel [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsLDqZAKWjiU7yUEIiYaWdA , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsLDqZAKWjiU7yUEIiYaWdA/videos ]
Godstuff: brief TV clips exposing Insane TV Preachers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUP7r5S6rRw [with comments]
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Godstuff: Crazy Evangelical Preachers
Published on May 4, 2013 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGMQdbTeBBQ [with comments]
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Godstuff: Insane TV Preachers - with Slash
Published on Dec 28, 2013 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCxsn_QOIaY [with comments]
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Godstuff - with Mahatma Gandhi
Published on Jan 2, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU9Vqb68Ii4 [with comments]
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Godstuff - with Bishop Eddie Long
Published on Jan 3, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgC7CPTFoqI [with comments]
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Godstuff - with Freddie Mercury
Published on Mar 27, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU4_-XRwLUk [with comments]
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Godstuff: Evil TV Preacher Awards 2014
Published on May 14, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgmg-NMTJ9E [with comments]
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Godstuff: Insane TV Preachers - with John Bloom
Published on Jul 21, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqaZnLHgvFk [with comments]
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Godstuff: More Insane TV Preachers - with John Bloom
Published on Jul 21, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAJnKlyTOys [with comments]
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Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson at Montclair Kimberley Academy - 2010-Jan-29
Uploaded on Nov 27, 2011 by teridon [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnXnAXeH3659G4cz9B6Y8Cw / http://www.youtube.com/user/teridon , http://www.youtube.com/user/teridon/videos ]
Jump to 6:15 for the start of the interview.
Now with captions! Took me three days to transcribe :-P
Download captions: https://sites.google.com/site/teridon/captions.srt
If you would like to volunteer to create captions for your native language, message me.
I DO NOT OWN THIS CONTENT, but the website was severely overloaded when I uploaded it here. Neil even tweeted a link to this video ( https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/141496854448836609 )
Original: http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/watch/2010/01/29/stephen-colbert-interview-montclair-kimberley-academy
A discussion about science, society, and the universe with Stephen Colbert, who is out of character, at the Kimberley Academy in Montclair, New Jersey, in January of 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXh9RQCvxmg [comments disabled] [also included at/see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=97287026 and preceding and following]
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Our Four-Year Mission: Make America Smart Again
Published on Nov 9, 2016 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig/videos ]
Neil deGrasse Tyson blows Stephen's mind (and his own) with tales from the edge of the universe, where they won't hear about this election for light years.
[originally aired live late November 8, 2016, before the official call of the election but after it had become apparent that Trump was going to win]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBNzuCjlwec [with comments]
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Neil deGrasse Tyson's plan to save humanity
Published on Nov 22, 2016 by CBS News [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8p1vwvWtl6T73JiExfWs1g / http://www.youtube.com/user/CBSNewsOnline , http://www.youtube.com/user/CBSNewsOnline/videos ]
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explores aliens, black holes and planets in his new book "Welcome to the Universe." Tyson joins CBSN to discuss the book and why humans need to figure out how to stop an asteroid from hitting Earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BesDKCOjWkQ [with comments]
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Neil deGrasse Tyson on Making America Smart Again
Published on Nov 28, 2016 by PCMag [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRhADYLTpsb0JA-uaLWovGw / http://www.youtube.com/user/PCMagazineReviews , http://www.youtube.com/user/PCMagazineReviews/videos ]
The world's personal astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson stopped by PCMag's offices for an episode of The Convo to talk about science, politics, education, his Twitter beef with B.O.B., if there will be another season of Cosmos, the multiverse (and "the metaverse"), and A LOT more. Check this one out.
This interview originally appeared on November 22, 2016 on PCMag's Facebook page as part of our interview series, "The Convo": https://www.facebook.com/PCMag/videos/10154676978308396/ You can watch other episodes here: http://www.pcmag.com/article/346681/the-convo-pcmag-nerds-it-up-with-the-worlds-most-interesti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmVdSDWwYPI [with comments]
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The Top 10 Most Evil TV Preachers
Published on Jun 10, 2013 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWpmqumajSQ [with comments]
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The Top 20 Very Worst Christian Sermons of all time!
Published on May 28, 2015 by Christian Comedy Channel
The Top 20 Worst Christian Sermons are preached by:
1. Randy Demain
2. Webster Tapley (The Co-Prophet of the End Times)
3. Emmanuel Makendiwda
4. Kenneth Copeland
5. Robert Morris
6. T. D. Jakes
7. Todd Bentley
8. Jim Staley
9. Benny Hinn
10. Gregory N. Barkman
11. Jack Schaap
12. Lesego Daniel
13. Eddie Long
14. Morris Cerullo
15. Unknown Pastor's Sermon illustration
16. Robert Tilton
17. Jim Standridge
18. Perry Noble
19. Leandria Johnson
20. Larry Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAlFvzofdA4 [with comments]
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The Top 10 most Aggressive (and Violent) Christian Pastors (and TV Preachers)
Published on Feb 28, 2016 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuH0B3ouw98 [with comments]
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Published on Apr 25, 2013 by Andrew Skegg [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnTq3js9WIkajKJDXVpQCkw / http://www.youtube.com/user/askegg , http://www.youtube.com/user/askegg/videos ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHlK5FAgmyM [with comments]
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This is your brain on God: Spiritual experiences activate brain reward circuits
Spiritual feelings trigger a reward circuit in the brain, shows a new study from the University of Utah School of Medicine. Neuroscientist Jeffrey Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., explains the findings and their implications for why religion has such is a strong influence on how people make decisions.
Credit: University of Utah Health Sciences
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw02dTJ5RMA (non-YouTube version embedded in the original; no comments yet)]
University of Utah Health Sciences
Public Release: 29-Nov-2016
SALT LAKE CITY - Religious and spiritual experiences activate the brain reward circuits in much the same way as love, sex, gambling, drugs and music, report researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine [ http://healthsciences.utah.edu/ ]. The findings will be published Nov. 29 in the journal Social Neuroscience [ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17470919.2016.1257437 ].
"We're just beginning to understand how the brain participates in experiences that believers interpret as spiritual, divine or transcendent," says senior author and neuroradiologist Jeff Anderson, M.D., Ph.D [ http://healthcare.utah.edu/fad/mddetail.php?physicianID=u0281911 ]. "In the last few years, brain imaging technologies have matured in ways that are letting us approach questions that have been around for millennia."
Specifically, the investigators set out to determine which brain networks are involved in representing spiritual feelings in one group, devout Mormons, by creating an environment that triggered participants to "feel the Spirit." Identifying this feeling of peace and closeness with God in oneself and others is a critically important part of Mormons' lives -- they make decisions based on these feelings; treat them as confirmation of doctrinal principles; and view them as a primary means of communication with the divine.
During fMRI scans, 19 young-adult church members -- including seven females and 12 males -- performed four tasks in response to content meant to evoke spiritual feelings. The hour-long exam included six minutes of rest; six minutes of audiovisual control (a video detailing their church's membership statistics); eight minutes of quotations by Mormon and world religious leaders; eight minutes of reading familiar passages from the Book of Mormon; 12 minutes of audiovisual stimuli (church-produced video of family and Biblical scenes, and other religiously evocative content); and another eight minutes of quotations.
During the initial quotations portion of the exam, participants -- each a former full-time missionary -- were shown a series of quotes, each followed by the question "Are you feeling the spirit?" Participants responded with answers ranging from "not feeling" to "very strongly feeling."
Researchers collected detailed assessments of the feelings of participants, who, almost universally, reported experiencing the kinds of feelings typical of an intense worship service. They described feelings of peace and physical sensations of warmth. Many were in tears by the end of the scan. In one experiment, participants pushed a button when they felt a peak spiritual feeling while watching church-produced stimuli.
"When our study participants were instructed to think about a savior, about being with their families for eternity, about their heavenly rewards, their brains and bodies physically responded," says lead author Michael Ferguson, Ph.D., who carried out the study as a bioengineering graduate student at the University of Utah.
Based on fMRI scans, the researchers found that powerful spiritual feelings were reproducibly associated with activation in the nucleus accumbens, a critical brain region for processing reward. Peak activity occurred about 1-3 seconds before participants pushed the button and was replicated in each of the four tasks. As participants were experiencing peak feelings, their hearts beat faster and their breathing deepened.
In addition to the brain's reward circuits, the researchers found that spiritual feelings were associated with the medial prefrontal cortex, which is a complex brain region that is activated by tasks involving valuation, judgment and moral reasoning. Spiritual feelings also activated brain regions associated with focused attention.
"Religious experience is perhaps the most influential part of how people make decisions that affect all of us, for good and for ill. Understanding what happens in the brain to contribute to those decisions is really important," says Anderson, noting that we don't yet know if believers of other religions would respond the same way. Work by others suggests that the brain responds quite differently to meditative and contemplative practices characteristic of some eastern religions, but so far little is known about the neuroscience of western spiritual practices.
The study is the first initiative of the Religious Brain Project, launched by a group of University of Utah researchers in 2014, which aims to understand how the brain operates in people with deep spiritual and religious beliefs.
###
In addition to Anderson and Ferguson, co-authors include Jared Nielsen from Harvard University, and Jace King, Li Dai, Danielle Giangrasso, Rachel Holman, and Julie Korenberg from the University of Utah.
The study was funded by the Davis Endowed Chair in Radiology at the University of Utah, and the National Institute of Mental Health, and published [ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17470919.2016.1257437 ] as "Reward, Salience, and Attentional Networks are Activated by Religious Experience in Devout Mormons" in Social Neuroscience on Nov. 29, 2016.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-11/uouh-tiy111816.php
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Reward, salience, and attentional networks are activated by religious experience in devout Mormons
Published online: 29 Nov 2016
Abstract
High-level cognitive and emotional experience arises from brain activity, but the specific brain substrates for religious and spiritual euphoria remain unclear. We demonstrate using functional magnetic resonance imaging scans in 19 devout Mormons that a recognizable feeling central to their devotional practice was reproducibly associated with activation in nucleus accumbens, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and frontal att.entional regions. Nucleus accumbens activation preceded peak spiritual feelings by 1–3 s and was replicated in four separate tasks. Attentional activation in the anterior cingulate and frontal eye fields was greater in the right hemisphere. The association of abstract ideas and brain reward circuitry may interact with frontal attentional and emotive salience processing, suggesting a mechanism whereby doctrinal concepts may come to be intrinsically rewarding and motivate behavior in religious individuals.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17470919.2016.1257437
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The brain on God
fMRI scans recorded brain activity as devoutly religious study participants read quotes from spiritual leaders or watched religious imagery.
Credit: University of Utah Health Sciences.
Several brain regions become active when devoutly religious study participants reported having a spiritual experience, including a reward circuit, the nucleus accumbens.
Credit: Jeffrey Anderson
Brain imaging reveals that spiritual experiences activate reward circuits.
by Maarten Rikken
29th November 2016
Religious and spiritual experiences activate the brain’s reward circuits in a similar way to love, gambling, and music, a new study [ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17470919.2016.1257437 ] finds. Researchers used fMRI scans to look at the brains of 19 devout Mormons as they engaged in an experience described as "feeling the Spirit." This feeling was reproducibly associated with activation in nucleus accumbens, a critical region for processing reward and pleasure in the brain.
We spoke to the study’s senior author, neuroradiologist Jeffrey S Anderson [ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeffrey_Anderson3 ].
ResearchGate: What motivated this study?
Jeffrey Anderson: Billions of people make decisions based on religious and spiritual experiences. Such experiences are central to the maintenance of religious beliefs and convictions. Yet, despite how important these experiences are to people across faith traditions and cultures, we know almost nothing about how the brain participates in these experiences.
RG: What did you discover?
Anderson: In a group of devout Mormons, a spiritual experience they describe as "feeling the Spirit" is associated with activation in a reproducible network of brain regions. These regions include the nucleus accumbens, a critical region for processing reward and pleasure in the brain. We also found activation in attentions associated with perception of salience or novelty in the brain, and in regions that are associated with focused attention.
In one experiment, we had individuals press a button while watching audiovisual stimuli when they felt peak spiritual feelings. Activation in the nucleus accumbens spiked 1-3 seconds before they pressed the button, suggesting that there is a close relationship between spiritual feelings and brain reward activation. The centrality of reward in brain responses to spiritual feelings suggest that one view of religious training might align with classical conditioning, where association of positive feedback, music, and social rewards with religious beliefs or doctrines may lead to these doctrines becoming intrinsically rewarding. These same mechanisms may help explain attachment to religious leaders and ideals.
RG: How might these mechanisms play out in practice?
Anderson: Once you place religious experience in the context of brain reward circuits, it suggests that religious training can induce feelings of reward in response to doctrines or ideals or religious leaders. There's no reason one can't suppose that any doctrine from "love your neighbor" to "follow your leader" to "inflict violence on the out-group" might not be trained to induce reward. It may be that a Lutheran woman in Minnesota and an ISIS follower in Syria might experience the same feelings in the same brain regions for completely different belief systems, with very different social consequences.
RG: Can you briefly describe how you conducted the study?
Anderson: We obtained functional MRI images while showing the participants stimuli including prayer, readings of religiously-themed quotations and scripture, and audiovisual stimuli produced by the Mormon church designed to evoke spiritual feelings. After the imaging sessions, participants reported that the feelings they experienced during the scan were comparable to an intense worship service or private religious practice. Many were in tears after the scan.
RG: What was the most challenging aspect of the study?
Anderson: We were unsure how successful we would be at reproducing sincere spiritual experiences in a laboratory setting. Although an MRI scanner can be loud and artificial, it is also a private place where people can be alone with their thoughts and feelings. We were surprised at both how intense our volunteers reported their experiences to be and how reproducible the identified brain network was. This was replicated independently in four separate experiments.
RG: Why did you select Mormons? Do you think the brain reward could differ across religions?
Anderson: We chose Mormons because of the centrality in their theology and practice of charismatic spiritual feelings. It can't be overstated how important these feelings are to devout Mormons. They report experiencing these feelings frequently, and our volunteers had each served 1-2 year missions in which recognizing their own thoughts and feelings when they were "feeling the Spirit" was a daily activity.
We don't know how similar the experience of spiritual feelings is across different religious groups, but there are good reasons to expect that a similar library of brain responses may be shared across cultures. A similar region to the one we observed was seen in a study involving prayer in Danish Christians. Other early studies suggest a key role for brain reward centers in religious experience.
RG: Could this feeling be reproduced in people who are not religious? Are there comparable non-religious feelings?
Anderson: I believe that feelings associated with patriotism and nationalism will show tremendous similarity in brain responses to ecstatic religious experience. Anecdotally, people who are not religious use similar language to describe feelings associated with peace and joy when in nature or contemplating profound ideas about science. We know that similar regions are activated during appreciation of music, experience of romantic and parental love, and winning at gambling.
RG: Is it possible that some people could be more prone to being affected by religion in this way than others?
Anderson: This is very likely. In our study, we found that some brain regions were more active in some individuals than in others. For example, activity in the insula during spiritual experiences varied across individuals, and these differences in activity correlated with moral values reported by those same individuals in questionnaires after the study. We expect that the differences from individual to individual may tell us about how different people and groups may differ in their perception of spiritual feelings.
RG: What was it like working with the volunteers?
Anderson: We appreciate the willingness of our participants to share their time and feelings. It can be intimidating and vulnerable to allow deeply held beliefs to be studied, and their courageous involvement made our study possible.
© 2016 researchgate.net
https://www.researchgate.net/blog/post/the-brain-on-god
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U. study: Spiritual experiences associated with brain's reward center
Neuroradiologist Jeff Anderson, pictured at the Imaging & Neurosciences Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016, discusses his research on how religious and spiritual experiences activate the brain reward circuits.
Published: Nov. 29, 2016 Updated: Nov. 29, 2016
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668195/U-study-Spiritual-experiences-associated-with-brains-reward-center.html?pg=all
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What your brain looks like on God: spiritual experience triggers same areas as sex and gambling
Having a spiritual experience makes the same areas of the brain light up as romantic love or addiction.
29 November 2016
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/11/29/brain-looks-like-god-spiritual-experience-triggers-areas-sex/ [with comments]
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Believing in God can trigger the same reward regions of the brain as taking drugs
19 Mormons, all of whom had spent one to two years carrying out missionary work, were hooked up to functional MRI machines while working on specific tasks.
Brain scans have shown that religious experiences activate the same neural systems as drug taking
30 Nov 2016
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/mormons-experience-religion-like-drug-takers-feel-highs-neuroscientists-say
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Godstuff: Crazy TV Preachers - with Joe Bob Briggs
Published on Apr 26, 2013 by Christian Comedy Channel [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsLDqZAKWjiU7yUEIiYaWdA , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsLDqZAKWjiU7yUEIiYaWdA/videos ]
Godstuff: brief TV clips exposing Insane TV Preachers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUP7r5S6rRw [with comments]
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Godstuff: Crazy Evangelical Preachers
Published on May 4, 2013 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGMQdbTeBBQ [with comments]
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Godstuff: Insane TV Preachers - with Slash
Published on Dec 28, 2013 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCxsn_QOIaY [with comments]
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Godstuff - with Mahatma Gandhi
Published on Jan 2, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU9Vqb68Ii4 [with comments]
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Godstuff - with Bishop Eddie Long
Published on Jan 3, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgC7CPTFoqI [with comments]
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Godstuff - with Freddie Mercury
Published on Mar 27, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU4_-XRwLUk [with comments]
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Godstuff: Evil TV Preacher Awards 2014
Published on May 14, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgmg-NMTJ9E [with comments]
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Godstuff: Insane TV Preachers - with John Bloom
Published on Jul 21, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqaZnLHgvFk [with comments]
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Godstuff: More Insane TV Preachers - with John Bloom
Published on Jul 21, 2014 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAJnKlyTOys [with comments]
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Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson at Montclair Kimberley Academy - 2010-Jan-29
Uploaded on Nov 27, 2011 by teridon [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnXnAXeH3659G4cz9B6Y8Cw / http://www.youtube.com/user/teridon , http://www.youtube.com/user/teridon/videos ]
Jump to 6:15 for the start of the interview.
Now with captions! Took me three days to transcribe :-P
Download captions: https://sites.google.com/site/teridon/captions.srt
If you would like to volunteer to create captions for your native language, message me.
I DO NOT OWN THIS CONTENT, but the website was severely overloaded when I uploaded it here. Neil even tweeted a link to this video ( https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/141496854448836609 )
Original: http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/watch/2010/01/29/stephen-colbert-interview-montclair-kimberley-academy
A discussion about science, society, and the universe with Stephen Colbert, who is out of character, at the Kimberley Academy in Montclair, New Jersey, in January of 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXh9RQCvxmg [comments disabled] [also included at/see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=97287026 and preceding and following]
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Our Four-Year Mission: Make America Smart Again
Published on Nov 9, 2016 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig/videos ]
Neil deGrasse Tyson blows Stephen's mind (and his own) with tales from the edge of the universe, where they won't hear about this election for light years.
[originally aired live late November 8, 2016, before the official call of the election but after it had become apparent that Trump was going to win]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBNzuCjlwec [with comments]
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Neil deGrasse Tyson's plan to save humanity
Published on Nov 22, 2016 by CBS News [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8p1vwvWtl6T73JiExfWs1g / http://www.youtube.com/user/CBSNewsOnline , http://www.youtube.com/user/CBSNewsOnline/videos ]
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explores aliens, black holes and planets in his new book "Welcome to the Universe." Tyson joins CBSN to discuss the book and why humans need to figure out how to stop an asteroid from hitting Earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BesDKCOjWkQ [with comments]
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Neil deGrasse Tyson on Making America Smart Again
Published on Nov 28, 2016 by PCMag [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRhADYLTpsb0JA-uaLWovGw / http://www.youtube.com/user/PCMagazineReviews , http://www.youtube.com/user/PCMagazineReviews/videos ]
The world's personal astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson stopped by PCMag's offices for an episode of The Convo to talk about science, politics, education, his Twitter beef with B.O.B., if there will be another season of Cosmos, the multiverse (and "the metaverse"), and A LOT more. Check this one out.
This interview originally appeared on November 22, 2016 on PCMag's Facebook page as part of our interview series, "The Convo": https://www.facebook.com/PCMag/videos/10154676978308396/ You can watch other episodes here: http://www.pcmag.com/article/346681/the-convo-pcmag-nerds-it-up-with-the-worlds-most-interesti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmVdSDWwYPI [with comments]
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The Top 10 Most Evil TV Preachers
Published on Jun 10, 2013 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWpmqumajSQ [with comments]
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The Top 20 Very Worst Christian Sermons of all time!
Published on May 28, 2015 by Christian Comedy Channel
The Top 20 Worst Christian Sermons are preached by:
1. Randy Demain
2. Webster Tapley (The Co-Prophet of the End Times)
3. Emmanuel Makendiwda
4. Kenneth Copeland
5. Robert Morris
6. T. D. Jakes
7. Todd Bentley
8. Jim Staley
9. Benny Hinn
10. Gregory N. Barkman
11. Jack Schaap
12. Lesego Daniel
13. Eddie Long
14. Morris Cerullo
15. Unknown Pastor's Sermon illustration
16. Robert Tilton
17. Jim Standridge
18. Perry Noble
19. Leandria Johnson
20. Larry Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAlFvzofdA4 [with comments]
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The Top 10 most Aggressive (and Violent) Christian Pastors (and TV Preachers)
Published on Feb 28, 2016 by Christian Comedy Channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuH0B3ouw98 [with comments]
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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