Abstract:
Studies investigating the brain in relation to religious experiences via neuroimaging tools have increased considerably. Most assume without verification that religious experience (e.g., prayer) while inside an imaging machine is the same as in normal settings. Addressing the validity of this assumption, we utilized a mock fMRI to compare self-reported typical prayer experience and 3 experimental conditions (silent room, initial fMRI, and acclimated fMRI). Forty-two individuals participated. In multiple aspects the “typical” and silent room conditions were indistinguishable; however, typical and fMRI conditions differed significantly. In sum, it was not clear what previous studies measured. These findings highlight the need for imaging research exploring religious experiences to include thorough debriefing protocols to disambiguate interpretations and facilitate meta-analytic efforts.
