1. Spirituality
How Spirituality Effects the Brain
Kaela Wells
ECE Current Issues in the Brain
March 2, 2012

2. What is Spirituality?
• Spirituality is not religion and is not even
necessarily affiliated with religion. While the
definition of spirituality is different for everyone,
there are commons themes associated with
spirituality such as:
– The idea of a process or journey of self-discovery and
the learning of not only who you are, but who you
want to be.
– The challenge of reaching beyond your current limits
by keeping an open mind, questioning current beliefs,
or trying to better understand others’ beliefs.
– A connectedness to yourself and others.
– A higher power, whether rooted in religion, nature, or
some kind of unknown essence.

3. Why should we develop our spirituality?
• Spirituality can offer many benefits to your life both emotionally and
physically such as:
– Gives you a sense of purpose
– Helps one find what they may be most passionate about both professionally
and personally.
– Improves social and personal life.
• Studies also show that positive beliefs can comfort you and improve
health. Those who have taken time to develop a spiritual life are also
likely to better understand their needs.

4. Brain Surgery Boosts Spirituality
• Researchers in Italy have found that removing part of the
brain can induce inner peace along with the study that
spiritual thinking arises in, or is limited by, specific brain areas.
• Cosimo Urgesi, a neuroscientist, turned to individuals with
brain tumors to asses the feeling before and after surgery.
Three to seven days after the removal of tumors from the
posterior part of the brain, in the parietal cortex, patients
reported feeling a greater sense of self-transcendence.
However, this was not the case for patients with tumors
removed from the frontal regions of the brain.

5. Spirituality & Damaged Brain
• Salvatore Aglioti, a cognitive neuroscientist, had
pinpointed two parts of the brain that, when
damaged, led to increases in spirituality.
• The left inferior parietal lobe and the right angular
gyrus were the parts of the brain that when
damaged, caused the differences. These areas are
at the back of the brain and are involves in how we
perceive our bodies in spatial relation to the external
world.

6. What makes us feel spiritual?
• A study suggests that a small area in our brain is the cause. The area in
question being the right parietal lobe.
• The parietal lobe is responsible for defining “Me”, according to researcher,
Brick Johnstone.
• The parietal lobe generates self-criticism and guides us through physical
and social terrains by constantly updating our self-knowledge.
• Individuals with less active “me-definers” are more likely to lead spiritual
lives.

7. Current Research
• Most previous research on neuro-spirituality has been
based on brain scans of actively practicing adherents
(i.e. meditating monks, praying nuns) and has resulted
in inconclusive findings.
• Previous neuro-imaging studies had linked activity
within a large network in the brain that connects the
frontal, parietal, and temporal cortexes with spiritual
experiences.
• Researchers explain that more information could lead
to strategies for treating some forms of mental illness
through spiritual healings.

8. Spirituality and the Aging Brain
• Existing evidence suggests that meditation,
prayer, and other related religious and spiritual
practices have many significant effects on the
aging brain.
• Many of the effects appear to be positive,
helping improve memory and cognition, mood,
and overall mental health.

9. Positive Effects of Meditation and Spirituality
• Research shows that meditation practice and increased mindfulness are
related to:
– Improved attentions functions
– Cognitive flexibility
• It may have the most important implication for aging, as there is a great deal of
interest in helping maintain brain function as people age.
• Tests prove that those who meditate outperformed those who do not meditate
on all measures of cognitive flexibility and speed of processing visual
information.

10. Negative Effects of Meditation and
Spirituality
• Studies have shows there may be a negative
impact on health because of:
– Not being able to follow instructions properly.
– Trying to meditate or take part in prayer in a
distracting environment which would result in
not enjoying the process.
– Frustration can turn into embarrassment and
anxiety.
– Problems incorporating them into current
religious or spiritual belief system which will
then lead to anxiety and depression if it were
to cause a “spiritual crisis”.
– A mix of religious, spiritual and organic
sources can cause metal illness and treatment
can become complicated.

11. Video on Meditation and the Brain
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdHRR
_XuJQo

12. Bibliography
Book:
Beauregard, Mario, and Denyse O'Leary. The Spiritual Brain. San Francisco:
HarperSanFrancisco, 2007. Print.
Used this book to get a better understanding of the benefits for the mind
body and soul that spirituality helps create.
Articles:
Newberg, A. B. (2011). Spirituality and the Aging Brain. Generations, 35(2),
83-91.
-This article gave information on the positives and negatives of meditation,
prayer, etc.
Reich, K. (2010). The Brain and Religion: How Do They Relate to Each
Other?. Intellectual Discourse, 18(1), 141-154.
-This article included how religion, meditation, and prayer related to the
brain.

13. Additional Sources
• http://www.livescience.com/5237-spirituality-spot-brain.html
• http://swc.osu.edu/about-us/spirituality/
• http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/02/12/scientists-spirituality-
center-brain/
• http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brain-surgery-
boosts-spiritual
• Youtube.com
• Cover photo: http://lakesideconference.org/
• Any other photos included were all taken by my uncle. I chose them
because I was inspired by my cousin which is in each of them. His
name was Phillipe.