Having s*x, taking drugs, gambling, listening to your favourite songs – what is one thing all these have in common – they are pretty addictive.
They are addictive because they stimulate a portion of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens, which scientists call the ‘reward centre’ – because it is in charge of releasing the feel good hormone dopamine. Feeling good when doing something means you are more likely to continue doing the same thing.
According to a study out of the University of Utah, engaging in religious activity stimulates the same centres of the brain as these activities, possibly implying that religion is nothing but an addiction. The study involved nineteen devout Mormons, all former missionaries, whose brains were scanned whilst being shown religious imagery, to see what effect religion actually has on their brain whilst undergoing such activity.
The nineteen subjects – 7 females and 12 males – were shown positive religious imagery and activities meant to invoke their spiritual connection to God. MRI scans of their brains were observed whilst the following activities were carried out….
- 6 minutes of rest
- 6 minutes of watching a video detailing the Mormon church’s membership statistics
- 8 minutes of literature quotations falsely attributed to Mormon and world religious leaders
- 8 minutes of reading familiar passages from the Book of Mormon
- 12 minutes of watching church-produced video of family and Biblical scenes
- Another 8 minutes of quotations.
Science Alert has the rest…
Throughout, participants were asked to describe what they were experiencing.
Almost universally, they reported a response similar to an intense worship service, including feelings of peace and physical sensations of warmth. Many were in tears by the end of the scan, the researchers note.
Their brains were being scanned the whole time, and the results showed an interesting pattern. The regions that lit up were part of the reward circuit of the brain, which researchers also know is stimulated by things like drugs, junk food, and sex.
This part of the brain is known as the nucleus accumbens, which is also referred to as the ‘reward centre’, because it controls feelings of addiction and plays a role in the release of the ‘feel-good’ hormone dopamine.
To investigate further, the team asked participants to push a button when they felt a peak spiritual feeling, and the brain scans showed that peak neurological activity occurred about 1 to 3 seconds before they pushed the button.
Their heart rates also sped up, and breathing deepened at the same time.
“We’re just beginning to understand how the brain participates in experiences that believers interpret as spiritual, divine or transcendent,” said lead researcher Jeff Anderson from the University of Utah.
He added: “In the last few years, brain imaging technologies have matured in ways that are letting us approach questions that have been around for millennia.”
And discover that religion, perhaps, is just one huge, collective addiction plaguing the human race for all time – much like drug abuse and gambling addictions.