title: Cognitive and neural foundations of religious belief.
abstract: We propose an integrative cognitive neuroscience framework for understanding the cognitive and neural foundations of religious belief. Our analysis reveals 3 psychological dimensions of religious belief (God's perceived level of involvement, God's perceived emotion, and doctrinal/experiential religious knowledge), which functional MRI localizes within networks processing Theory of Mind regarding intent and emotion, abstract semantics, and imagery. Our results are unique in demonstrating that specific components of religious belief are mediated by well-known brain networks, and support contemporary psychological theories that ground religious belief within evolutionary adaptive cognitive functions.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke/National Institutes of Health, MSC 1440, 10 Center Drive, MSC 1440, Bethesda, MD 20892-1440, USA.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kapogiannis
authors.forename: Aron K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Barbey
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zamboni
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Krueger
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grafman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009424:Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; D012067:Religion