Brain networks involved in the influence of religion on empathy in male Vietnam War veterans

Abstract

Humans all over the world believe in spirits and deities, yet how the brain supports religious cognition remains unclear. Drawing on a unique sample of patients with penetrating traumatic brain injuries (pTBI) and matched healthy controls (HCs) we investigate dependencies of religious cognition on neural networks that represent (1) others agents’ intentions (Theory of Mind, ToM) and (2) other agents’ feelings (Empathy). Extending previous observations that ToM networks are recruited during prayer, we find that people with vmPFC damage report higher scores on the personal relationship with God inventory even when they are not praying. This result offers evidence that it is the modulation of ToM networks that support beliefs in supernatural agents. With respect to empathetic processing, we observed that vmPFC and pSTS/TPJ lesions mediated by the strength of the personal relationship with God affect empathetic responses. We suggest that the neurological networks underpinning God representations amplify human empathetic responses. The cultural evolutionary study of religion has argued that supernatural beliefs evoke pro-social responses because people fear the wrath of Gods. Our findings imply greater attention should be paid to the mechanisms by which religious cognition may regulate empathetic responses to others.

The neural underpinning of religious beliefs: Evidence from brain lesions

“…More recently, Cristofori et al ( 2021 ) investigated the neural interplay between empathy and personal relationship with God. Extending previous observations that theory of mind networks is recruited during prayer (Boyer, 2003 , 2008 ), the authors found that people with vmPFC damage reported higher scores on the personal relationship with God inventory (Lawrence, 1997 ) even when they were not praying.…”

Sympathy-Empathy and the Radicalization of Young People

“…Some factors may even foster PD upon empathetic concern, such as (i) psychological state of the observer (especially depression) [ 104 ] (depression is frequent among radicalized young people); (ii) exposure to physical rather than psychological pain [ 109 ]; and (iii) psychological inflexibility in adolescents’ prejudices [ 110 ]. Conversely, the adoption of radical views has been shown to reduce PD [ 111 ]; therefore, PD may have an important role as an acute coping mechanism possibly involved in the radical belief system.…”

“…Very recent research went further to clarify reciprocal relationships between empathy and religious beliefs. To determine whether holding religious beliefs promotes cognitive flexibility and openness or biases the development of such beliefs, Cristofori et al studied neurological patients with brain lesions involving the main regions of TOM (notably the VmPFC) [ 111 ]. The authors tested two alternative hypotheses: whether empathy promotes religious belief or whether religious belief promotes greater prosocial tendencies.…”

“…Let us summarize some key points: (i) empathy is a multifaceted construct, with affective and cognitive components both relying on different brain networks [ 13 ]; (ii) possible dissociation between cognitive and affective empathy has been shown in these networks in the context of lesion models [ 155 ] and psychopathology [ 156 , 157 ]; (iii) weaker TOM was associated with a greater God image thought that was associated with higher empathic concern [ 111 ]; (iv) lower perspective-taking abilities were associated with higher affective empathy among religious fundamentalists [ 140 ]; and (v) motivational components may modify the SE system [ 10 , 158 ].…”