Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Karnataka
|
Brain changes linked to spirituality | By studying patients before and after surgery to remove a brain tumour, a team of Italian researchers has identified anatomical changes in the brain that may be linked to shifts in spiritual and religious attitudes. The team has uncovered
another clue that directly links brain activity and spirituality. "Neuroimaging
studies have linked activity within a large network in the brain that connects
the frontal, parietal, and temporal cortexes with spiritual experiences, but information
on the causative link between such a network and spirituality is lacking," lead
study author Dr. Cosimo Urgesi, from the University of Udine in Italy, was quoted
as saying. Dr. Urgesi's team scored patients on a personality train called self-transcendence
(ST) before and after brain tumour surgery and combined analysis of those scores
with advanced brain mapping. They found selective damage to the left and right
posterior parietal regions of the brain caused a specific increase in ST. "Damage
to posterior parietal areas induced unusually fast changes of a stable personality
dimension related to transcendental self-referential awareness," Urgesi. "Thus,
dysfunctional parietal neural activity may underpin altered spiritual and religious
attitudes and behaviours," Urgesi added. Self-transcendence is thought by experts
to be a measure of spiritual feeling, thinking and behaviours that reflects a
decreased sense of self and an ability to identify oneself as an integral part
of the universe. The study has been published by Cell Press in the February 11
issue of the journal Neuron. |
|
|
|
|
|