Infos zum Thema neurowissenschaften

according to new research by Ian McGregor and colleagues at York University, Toronto, Canada, is to become more fervent in our pursuit of cherished ideals. When people are frustrated in their attempts to achieve concrete, real-world goals, abstract ideologies provide a readily achievable displacement goal.

Religious people tend to think that they know what their god wants, but how do they come by that knowledge? The gods can't be communicating their preferences directly (because there's no such thing), so where do these beliefs come from?

Studying just how brain activity changes as people think religious thoughts or experience spiritual or transcendental experiences gives a window into how they are generated in the brain and how they link to other kinds of experiences.

Researchers from the University of Toronto have shown that religious believers get less 'error-related negativity' (ERN) - a neurological response that's associated with conflict anxiety - when they make mistakes . But another study that came out a month ago sheds some intriguing light on what the practical implications of this actually are.

What they set out to investigate was whether people who feel like they are not in control of their lives, and feel anxious as a result, turn to external supports to reduce their anxiety. In fact, what they suggest is that everybody has a preferred level of control that makes them feel comfortable. To reach that point, you can either convince yourself that you are in control, or you can convince yourself that the something else (God, perhaps, or a benevolent government) is in control.

Die Forscher stellten fest: Vor allem eine Verletzung der Großhirnrinde im hinteren Scheitellappen brachte die Patienten dazu, sich in einem transzendenteren Umfeld zu sehen. Demnach bestätigen sie Newbergs Erkenntnisse, dass die hinteren Scheitellappen die Spiritualität eines Menschen stark beeinflussen kann.