Study Suggests Religion Activates Reward Centers Similar to Food, Sex

A belief system is a relevant part of everyone's lives. However, deeper examination reveals spiritual experiences activate the brain's reward circuits. This is similar to how we view sex, gambling, music, and drugs.

Researchers from the University of Utah School of Medicine said brain imaging technologies has helped them shed light into questions on experiences that are often interpreted as divine, spiritual, or transcendent.

In fact, it appears our approach on the divine is similar to euphoria, albeit from alternatives such as sex, food, or drugs.

According to Science Daily, senior author Jeff Anderson said he and his team wanted to determine which brain networks are involved in spiritual feelings in Mormons by creating an environment that triggers participant to "feel the spirit."

Mormons believe that identifying this feeling of peace and closeness with God as well as with oneself helps them make decisions based on these feelings. It's also an integral part of their doctrinal principles, as this is their primary means to communicate with the divine. 

fMRI scans were taken from 19 young adult church members that performed four tasks in response to content meant to evoke spiritual feelings. The exam was an hour long and included six minutes of rest, six minutes of audiovisual control, eight minutes of quotations by Mormon and world religious readers, eight minutes of reading familiar passages from the Book of Mormon, 12 minutes of audiovisual stimuli, and another for quotations.

The participants were shown quotes that were followed by the question whether or not they are "feeling" the spirit. The assessment of these feelings revealed that they are more or less evoked during intense worship service. 

They described these feelings similar to peace and physical sensations of warmth.

Participants were also urged to push a button when they felt a peak of spiritual feeling while watching church-produced stimuli.

Lead author Michael Ferguson said that the brains and bodies of participants "respond" when they think about a savior, being with their families for eternity, and receiving heavenly rewards.

They eventually found out in their study that these powerful spiritual feelings are associated with the activation in the nucleus accumbens. This is the critical brain region for reward processing. 

The researchers also found out that spiritual feelings are associated with the medial prefrontal cortex, associated with valuation, judgment, and moral reasoning.