This is your brain on God | Michael Ferguson | TEDxSaltLakeCity
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0:10 - 0:13This is your brain on God.
-
0:13 - 0:14(Laughter)
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0:16 - 0:19As a graduate student
here at the University of Utah, -
0:19 - 0:23my team and I had the opportunity
to look inside the brains -
0:23 - 0:27of believing Latter-day Saints,
also known as Mormons, -
0:27 - 0:30when they were praying,
reading scriptures -
0:30 - 0:34and watching videos
of the religious leaders' teaching. -
0:35 - 0:39Being based in Salt Lake City, Utah,
Mormons are not in short supply. -
0:39 - 0:41(Laughter)
-
0:41 - 0:45We recruited through the Deseret News,
the LDS Church-owned newspaper, -
0:46 - 0:48and invited devout members
of the religious community -
0:48 - 0:52to participate in psychometric testing
-
0:52 - 0:55and functional magnetic
resonance imaging, -
0:55 - 0:56or fMRI.
-
0:58 - 1:01fMRI is a wonderful scientific tool.
-
1:02 - 1:06It allows us to measure tiny fluctuations
in oxygenated blood flow -
1:07 - 1:10that correspond
to neural changes in activity. -
1:11 - 1:14While our participants were
inside of the scanner, -
1:14 - 1:16they had a button box
attached to their chest -
1:17 - 1:21so that they could press a button
and indicate to us in real-time -
1:21 - 1:24when they were feeling the Spirit.
-
1:24 - 1:26It's a cultural phenomenon
-
1:26 - 1:29that's a central, epistemological event
-
1:29 - 1:33significant to the truth claims
of the Mormon religion. -
1:35 - 1:39What we observed was
that across all task conditions, -
1:39 - 1:41the three areas of the brain
-
1:41 - 1:45that consistently demonstrated
elevated activity -
1:46 - 1:48were the frontal attention regions,
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1:49 - 1:52the medial prefrontal cortex
-
1:53 - 1:55and the nucleus accumbens -
-
1:55 - 1:56an area of the brain
-
1:56 - 2:01with an enriched supply
of the reward molecule, dopamine. -
2:02 - 2:06Far from just being a high tech blobology,
-
2:07 - 2:12this Trinity of neural regions
sketches what we can reasonably label -
2:12 - 2:15as the neuro spiritual
system of Mormonism. -
2:16 - 2:21The implications are profound,
both for culture and for the brain. -
2:23 - 2:26One of the first questions
that comes to mind for me is, -
2:26 - 2:29"Does this neuro spiritual
system from Mormonism -
2:29 - 2:33map into the brains of religious
individuals from other faith traditions -
2:33 - 2:38when they are having
peak, ecstatic religious experiences?" -
2:39 - 2:42So many of the world's
spiritual traditions -
2:42 - 2:47report profound feelings of oneness
with a transcendent source, -
2:47 - 2:51often accompanied by an
increased charitable disposition. -
2:53 - 2:56Could it be that these cultural variations
-
2:56 - 3:00are all being supported
by a common core of brain networks? -
3:01 - 3:05For the first time in the history
of contemplative philosophy -
3:05 - 3:07and the sciences of the mind,
-
3:07 - 3:13we can answer these questions empirically
by skillfully measuring brain activity -
3:13 - 3:18with more temporal and spatial precision
than we've ever been able to do -
3:18 - 3:21even in the recent past of neuroscience.
-
3:22 - 3:25This is an exciting time
to be a brain researcher. -
3:25 - 3:28Let's talk about the word
"God" for a moment. -
3:29 - 3:32It's a simple three-letter
word in English, -
3:32 - 3:38yet this one word is so powerful,
linguistically and psychologically, -
3:38 - 3:41that it is used to invoke
military courage, -
3:41 - 3:44to promote feelings of nationalism,
-
3:45 - 3:49and even to justify war and atrocity.
-
3:50 - 3:55The hypothetical omission of this one word
by a president of the United States, -
3:55 - 4:00the failure to simply say
"God bless America," -
4:00 - 4:04would likely cause their public
approval ratings to plummet. -
4:05 - 4:07Whatever your metaphysical beliefs are,
-
4:07 - 4:13the literal fact is that the trajectories
of lives and nations -
4:13 - 4:16swing on the hinge
of this one word: -
4:17 - 4:18"God."
-
4:20 - 4:24To think about God, either
through construction or negation, -
4:25 - 4:28you have to deploy abstract reasoning.
-
4:28 - 4:31The very principles
that are intrinsically bound up -
4:31 - 4:35in any conceivable definition
of the word "God" -
4:35 - 4:39include elements
of mystery and unknowing. -
4:40 - 4:43These very types of abstract principles
-
4:43 - 4:47are precisely what land us
in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. -
4:48 - 4:51I have to step back and think
about this sometimes, -
4:51 - 4:54that we have inside the bones of our head
-
4:55 - 4:57an electrical piece of meat
-
4:57 - 4:59(Laughter)
-
4:59 - 5:04that's generating abstract ideas
about divine nature. -
5:07 - 5:11The nucleus accumbens is located
a little bit lower in the brain, -
5:11 - 5:13in a region called the subcortex.
-
5:14 - 5:17The subcortex is more ancient
than the prefrontal cortex -
5:17 - 5:22in terms of the evolutionary
time spans for its development. -
5:22 - 5:25The nucleus accumbens
is the brains' pleasure center. -
5:26 - 5:30It helps positively reinforce
environments and behaviors -
5:31 - 5:32that are rewarding to you
-
5:32 - 5:34and that are beneficial to you.
-
5:35 - 5:38I have to smile when I think
about how in the New Testament, -
5:39 - 5:41when Jesus describes heavenly rewards,
-
5:42 - 5:47we are illuminating the biological
embodiment of these ancient metaphors. -
5:49 - 5:54When our study participants were
instructed to think about a savior, -
5:54 - 5:57about being with their
families for eternity, -
5:58 - 6:02in short, when they were thinking
about their heavenly rewards -
6:02 - 6:04as they imagined them,
-
6:04 - 6:08the brains and their
bodies physically respond. -
6:10 - 6:13A classic hymn in the religious
movement of Joseph Smith -
6:13 - 6:17describes the Spirit of God
like a fire burning. -
6:17 - 6:19If you haven't ever felt it before,
-
6:19 - 6:22it's actually a wonderful warm glow.
-
6:22 - 6:25It makes you want to do good and be good.
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6:26 - 6:27It may be the emotion
-
6:27 - 6:32that moral psychologist
Jonathan Hite refers to as elevation. -
6:35 - 6:36The frontal attention regions
-
6:36 - 6:40are probably acting in concert
with the nucleus accumbens -
6:40 - 6:45in order to amplify the phenomenal
content of this religious experience. -
6:45 - 6:48This so is an area where we will
continue to do extended research -
6:49 - 6:52in order to better understand
the dynamics of this neural system -
6:53 - 6:56as it interacts with religious psychology.
-
6:59 - 7:03In addition to the biology that supports
ecstatic religious experience, -
7:03 - 7:04we were also curious
-
7:04 - 7:09about how social behavior
is influenced by the brain on God. -
7:10 - 7:15One possibility that we considered
is that perhaps our study participants -
7:15 - 7:18would demonstrate
an in-group authority bias -
7:18 - 7:20if they were asked to compare
-
7:20 - 7:23the teachings of their
own religious leaders -
7:23 - 7:25with the teachings
from other faith traditions. -
7:26 - 7:29We designed a spiritual quotation's task
-
7:29 - 7:33in which participants were presented
with a spiritual teaching, -
7:33 - 7:34and next to it,
-
7:34 - 7:37with a picture of the person
who made the statement. -
7:38 - 7:41They were then asked to rate
how meaningful the teaching was -
7:41 - 7:47and also how strongly they felt
the Spirit in response to that teaching. -
7:49 - 7:51Sources for these teachings
-
7:51 - 7:54were either from an in-group
religious authority figure, -
7:54 - 7:57in the case of our study,
those included two Mormon apostles, -
7:58 - 8:00Diederich Dorf and Jeffrey Holland,
-
8:01 - 8:03and the president of the LDS Church
at the time of the study, -
8:03 - 8:05Thomas Monson.
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8:06 - 8:08The out-group religious figures
-
8:08 - 8:13included Pope Francis,
Desmond Tutu and Billy Graham, -
8:13 - 8:16three non-Mormon Christian leaders.
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8:17 - 8:19Because this was an experiment though,
-
8:20 - 8:22we threw in a little bit of a twist.
-
8:22 - 8:27It turns out that none of the teachings
were from their attributed sources. -
8:27 - 8:28(Laughter)
-
8:30 - 8:34We collected quotations
from the writings of C.S. Lewis. -
8:34 - 8:37(Laughter) (Cheers)
-
8:41 - 8:45He's sometimes referred to
in Mormonism as a 13th apostle. -
8:47 - 8:50We randomized these teachings
across all of the trials. -
8:51 - 8:54And we asked the participants
to rank how meaningful they were, -
8:54 - 8:56how strongly they felt the Spirit,
-
8:56 - 8:59and what we saw was so beautiful
-
8:59 - 9:02from the point of view
of cognitive science. -
9:03 - 9:07Believing Mormons consistently
ranked the teachings of their own leaders -
9:08 - 9:11as more meaningful
and as more spiritually evocative -
9:11 - 9:14than the teachings
of out-group authority figures -
9:14 - 9:18even though in reality,
they were all from the same source. -
9:20 - 9:21To further explore the way
-
9:21 - 9:25that social behavior is influenced
by the brain on God, -
9:25 - 9:28we had our participants
complete this task twice: -
9:28 - 9:31once at the beginning
of their study session, -
9:31 - 9:35and a second time, following
a 30-minute period of prayer, -
9:35 - 9:38of scripture study
and of religious devotion. -
9:39 - 9:42This now is the
audience-participation moment. -
9:42 - 9:43It's always fun to see
-
9:43 - 9:49what people guess the effects of feeling
the Spirit are on social judgments. -
9:49 - 9:51So, option number one
-
9:51 - 9:54is that after a 30-minute period
of prayer and scripture study -
9:54 - 9:59that our participants became more biased
against out-group authority figures. -
9:59 - 10:03Option two is that they became
less biased and more generous. -
10:03 - 10:09And option three is that we saw no changes
in the behavior that we were observing. -
10:09 - 10:11Now I want everybody to be really brave.
-
10:11 - 10:13(Laughter)
-
10:14 - 10:16Who thinks that option number one
-
10:16 - 10:18was what we saw?
-
10:18 - 10:20Okay.
-
10:21 - 10:26Who thinks that option number two,
a decrease in the bias, is what we saw? -
10:27 - 10:29Who thinks that option number three,
-
10:29 - 10:32held case that there was no change
in the behavior we observed? -
10:33 - 10:35And how about option four,
-
10:35 - 10:38which is that you're too nervous to
make a guess about religion publicly? -
10:38 - 10:40(Laughter)
-
10:42 - 10:48What we saw is that after a 30-minute
period of personal spiritual practice, -
10:48 - 10:53our study participants became
more generous to the out-group. -
10:55 - 10:57They arranged their teachings
as more meaningful -
10:57 - 11:00and reported to feel the Spirit
more strongly from them -
11:00 - 11:04than they had at the beginning
of the study session. -
11:04 - 11:06There are several possible mechanisms
-
11:06 - 11:09that could be driving
the behaviors that we observe. -
11:09 - 11:11It's very likely, for example,
-
11:11 - 11:14that principals from the psychology
of attachment theory -
11:15 - 11:18are participating in this authority bias.
-
11:19 - 11:23There are also elements of classical
conditioning that might be at play here. -
11:24 - 11:25Biologically speaking,
-
11:25 - 11:28when dopamine is released
through the brain, -
11:28 - 11:32it may be driving an increase
in social openness. -
11:33 - 11:35As is most often the case in science,
-
11:35 - 11:39the full story likely requires
a complex map -
11:39 - 11:42with multiple layers of explanation.
-
11:45 - 11:46Religion, in my mind,
-
11:46 - 11:50shows a lot of similar
features with sex. -
11:51 - 11:53The majority of adults do it,
-
11:54 - 11:57they say that it brings meaning
and pleasure into their lives, -
11:58 - 12:02and in spite of strident advocates
for abstinence only, -
12:02 - 12:04people are going to do it.
-
12:04 - 12:06(Laughter)
-
12:06 - 12:09No matter how many people say,
"Never be sexual," -
12:09 - 12:12humans will be sexual.
-
12:12 - 12:15No matter how many people say,
"Never be religious," -
12:15 - 12:17humans will be religious.
-
12:17 - 12:22These are behaviors that spring
from deep evolutionary needs. -
12:23 - 12:27What I advocate is not for science
to focus its editorializing -
12:27 - 12:30on the eradication of religious behavior,
-
12:30 - 12:33but rather, like safe sex,
-
12:33 - 12:40on evidence-based best practices for
how we can do religion safely and well. -
12:40 - 12:42(Cheers) (Applause)
-
12:49 - 12:54Imagine a renewed partnership
between the seminary and the academy -
12:55 - 12:58to articulate intelligent safe theology.
-
12:58 - 13:01It could do a lot of good
in a world that needs it. -
13:03 - 13:07We live in an exciting day
of rapidly accelerating discovery. -
13:08 - 13:13What that means is the formation
of radically disruptive ideas. -
13:14 - 13:19Interdisciplinary and convergent work
are exponentially driving the pace -
13:19 - 13:22of our expanded self-understanding.
-
13:23 - 13:25The hope that I would like
to convey to you -
13:25 - 13:28is that by launching into a new era
-
13:28 - 13:33of religious studies that incorporate
the best tools of our scientific methods, -
13:33 - 13:38we may win the capacity to further
enlighten our respective cultures -
13:38 - 13:43and to refine our religious traditions
in ways that make them more worthy -
13:43 - 13:46of the divine nature
that they claim to represent. -
13:47 - 13:50This is your brain on God.
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13:51 - 13:52Any questions?
-
13:52 - 13:55(Applause)
-
13:59 - 14:00Thank you.
- Title:
- This is your brain on God | Michael Ferguson | TEDxSaltLakeCity
- Description:
-
Can science give us insights into age-old questions about religion? In this talk, Dr. Michael Ferguson describes the study he and his team conducted on believing Mormons when they reported to "feel the Spirit," a central event in Mormon worship. What they found might surprise both believers and skeptics.
Michael Ferguson is inspired by questions about human brains and the gods they adore. His research program examines the intersections of culture and brain through the lenses of cutting-edge fMRI methods and cognitive neuroscience. Most recently, he is conducting interdisciplinary work with philosophy of mind to analytically describe intelligence. As a graduate student at the University of Utah’s department of bioengineering, he, his committee chair, and co-investigators designed and executed a first-of- its-kind fMRI study, looking at the brain activity of returned missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while the research participants were involved in acts of religious worship and devotion. Michael and his husband were the first same-sex couple legally married in the state of Utah, and they retain a major portion of their heart and love in Salt Lake City. They currently live in upstate New York, the spiritual cradle of their native faith.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 14:04
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Hiroko Kawano edited English subtitles for This is your brain on God | Michael Ferguson | TEDxSaltLakeCity | ||
Hiroko Kawano edited English subtitles for This is your brain on God | Michael Ferguson | TEDxSaltLakeCity | ||
Hiroko Kawano edited English subtitles for This is your brain on God | Michael Ferguson | TEDxSaltLakeCity |