Journal
SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 199-207Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsn050
Keywords
social cognition; theory of mind; belief; reciprocity; prayer
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Funding
- Danish National Research Foundation
- Danish Research Council for Culture and Communication
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We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how performing formalized and improvised forms of praying changed the evoked BOLD response in a group of Danish Christians. Distinct from formalized praying and secular controls, improvised praying activated a strong response in the temporopolar region, the medial prefrontal cortex, the temporo-parietal junction and precuneus. This finding supports our hypothesis that religious subjects, who consider their God to be real and capable of reciprocating requests, recruit areas of social cognition when they pray. We argue that praying to God is an intersubjective experience comparable to normal interpersonal interaction.
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