Fiach

In the Archives of Neurology, June 2002, Vol. 59, No. 6. Pages 916-919, is the following article, "The Neurology of Reasoning". This is a very prestigious neurology journal affiliated with the American Medical Association.

They did some interesting studies using PET scanning to highlight areas of focal brain activity. They gave patients and volunteers a series of tests in deductive and inductive reasoning, executive problems to solve. They even electrocortically stimulated right and left frontal gyral areas separately.

The results are fascinating. It shows the pathways and cortical areas that perform thought and reason (logical function). They identified areas of prefrontal cortex laterally, medially, and orbitofrontally. Left hemisphere areas mediated the major rational functions while right hemisphere area had more of an affective or emotional role, relating the data to past emotion laden experiences.

One group of people were schizophrenic or bipolar. They initially had some problems with left frontal mediated problem solving and premise-conclusion accuracy.

Then they stimulate electrically these patient's left frontal area, the patients when presented conclusions with false premises, they immediately rejected them and were emotional in this rejection. When the same patients were stimulated on the right hemisphere, they "responded calmly and appeared unaffected by the absurdity of the premises."

The Left hemisphere applies rules of formal logic independent of the content of the presented data. The Right Hemisphere uses the data to assure that it corresponds to memory experiences (indoctrination for example.)

The authors, Dr. Shuren, MD and Dr. Grafman Ph.D., do not address religious belief. They also site a number of case reports of patients with brain lesions in the different locations of concern. This information goes a long way to understand dementing illnesses like Alzheimer's and Fronto-Temporal Dementia.

The part that we can all agree upon is that it is a big advance in finding causes and cures of these degenerative diseases. That is most important.

But philosophically, it is stimulation to be finally analysing thought, reasoning, logic, and executive mental functions to know how we all work.

Secondarily, it fits well with my earlier hypotheses about the possible differences between sceptical/unbeliever and more gullible/believer types of brains. I suspect that Atheists, Agnostics, Freethinkers have brains in which the left hemisphere centres and pathways are more efficient. Why they are more efficient could be due to synaptic density, receptor regulation, and possibly the concentration of cortical neurons in those areas.

By contrast, religious believers as well as those who believe in UFO's, Bigfoot, and Nessie have less efficient, less stimulated, or less developed logic circuitry in their left frontal lobes and/or more excitable right frontal circuits.

Evidence is piling up that the brains of determined atheists are quite different from determined religionists. Naturally there is a spectrum in which intermediate types prevail and in them you have people who are weakly religious or weakly sceptical. Those are the ones who may convert one way or the other depending on life experiences, or education.

So, that religionists don't feel like I am slagging them, I am not claiming superiority of one versus the other, just difference.

It also reinforces your above posit that many people don't choose to believe or not believe. Our conscious, or seemingly conscious brain does not decide. Our more complex circuitry analyses the data of God belief and bible ideas. Those of us with more developed Left Pre-frontal centres, circuits, synaptic regulation, receptors, and neuronal population density, have no real choice. Our brains cannot accept the concepts anymore than we can accept cubical spheres. Others, no slag intended, readily accept premises that we cannot, and conclusions that our brains reject. Their religiously tending brains accept it and for them it makes sense, in view of the strong emotional input and learned experiences.

Ok, Lads and Lasses, I await your attacks. But the trends in science are rapidly making more and more advances in the field of Neurocognition. None of this disproves their god(s); it only shows the mechanism of the brain at work in processing the data.

In the Archives of Neurology, June 2002, Vol. 59, No. 6. Pages 916-919, is the following article, "The Neurology of Reasoning". This is a very prestigious neurology journal affiliated with the American Medical Association.

They did some interesting studies using PET scanning to highlight areas of focal brain activity. They gave patients and volunteers a series of tests in deductive and inductive reasoning, executive problems to solve. They even electrocortically stimulated right and left frontal gyral areas separately.

The results are fascinating. It shows the pathways and cortical areas that perform thought and reason (logical function). They identified areas of prefrontal cortex laterally, medially, and orbitofrontally. Left hemisphere areas mediated the major rational functions while right hemisphere area had more of an affective or emotional role, relating the data to past emotion laden experiences.

One group of people were schizophrenic or bipolar. They initially had some problems with left frontal mediated problem solving and premise-conclusion accuracy.

Then they stimulate electrically these patient's left frontal area, the patients when presented conclusions with false premises, they immediately rejected them and were emotional in this rejection. When the same patients were stimulated on the right hemisphere, they "responded calmly and appeared unaffected by the absurdity of the premises."

The Left hemisphere applies rules of formal logic independent of the content of the presented data. The Right Hemisphere uses the data to assure that it corresponds to memory experiences (indoctrination for example.)

The authors, Dr. Shuren, MD and Dr. Grafman Ph.D., do not address religious belief. They also site a number of case reports of patients with brain lesions in the different locations of concern. This information goes a long way to understand dementing illnesses like Alzheimer's and Fronto-Temporal Dementia.

The part that we can all agree upon is that it is a big advance in finding causes and cures of these degenerative diseases. That is most important.

But philosophically, it is stimulation to be finally analysing thought, reasoning, logic, and executive mental functions to know how we all work.

Secondarily, it fits well with my earlier hypotheses about the possible differences between sceptical/unbeliever and more gullible/believer types of brains. I suspect that Atheists, Agnostics, Freethinkers have brains in which the left hemisphere centres and pathways are more efficient. Why they are more efficient could be due to synaptic density, receptor regulation, and possibly the concentration of cortical neurons in those areas.

By contrast, religious believers as well as those who believe in UFO's, Bigfoot, and Nessie have less efficient, less stimulated, or less developed logic circuitry in their left frontal lobes and/or more excitable right frontal circuits.

Evidence is piling up that the brains of determined atheists are quite different from determined religionists. Naturally there is a spectrum in which intermediate types prevail and in them you have people who are weakly religious or weakly sceptical. Those are the ones who may convert one way or the other depending on life experiences, or education.

So, that religionists don't feel like I am slagging them, I am not claiming superiority of one versus the other, just difference.

It also reinforces your above posit that many people don't choose to believe or not believe. Our conscious, or seemingly conscious brain does not decide. Our more complex circuitry analyses the data of God belief and bible ideas. Those of us with more developed Left Pre-frontal centres, circuits, synaptic regulation, receptors, and neuronal population density, have no real choice. Our brains cannot accept the concepts anymore than we can accept cubical spheres. Others, no slag intended, readily accept premises that we cannot, and conclusions that our brains reject. Their religiously tending brains accept it and for them it makes sense, in view of the strong emotional input and learned experiences.

Ok, I await your attacks. But the trends in science are rapidly making more and more advances in the field of Neurocognition. None of this disproves their god(s); it only shows the mechanism of the brain at work in processing the data. And it shows that gods are unnecessary to understanding what we see and hear.

Fiach

John Page

Fascinating. I'm not sure I totally go for the rational/emotion difference. I've met atheists who emotionally reject faith in god and theists who seem almost ultra-rational, espousing religion even though they acknowledge it has certain 'warts'. This is my subjective analysis though.

My other reflection is that the study confirms we can be in at least two minds about something. Did they say anything about which hemisphere has conscious control and how they know this?

Cheers, John

fando

Actually, I've been waiting for these kinds of studies all my life. I have always felt that one day we would have a reasonable neurobiological explanation for most of our behavorial traits. And , given time, these discoveries will open up opportunities to cultivate intelligence in our descendants and ourselves more efficiently. In fact, I predict the death of religion with the advent of a full understanding of our cognitive system.

So I find this report and your analysis to be rather remarkable. Alas, I don't feel qualified to participate in the debate. Philosophy isn't my strong point as my intuition is geared towards understanding the physical sciences. But I do support the effort to ask these questions and answer them.

LoopHooligan

Very interesting study. I have also often wondered if Religion had a neuroloigcal basis. My brother-inlaw is a profound schizophrenic and can be persuaded with little effort to believe almost anything. What this proves I don't know, I'm just thought it might be of interest.

If you are correct in your analysis then it does not bode well for freethinking as the majority of people have some religion and according to what you say they have little choice but too believe.

Jayhawker Soule

Just to be clear: you have piles of evidence that correlates to (presumably self-proclaimed) "determined atheists" and "determined
religionists", but you're not "claiming superiority", but, rather, simply noting that for us one side of the brain is "more efficient" and for them the other side of the brain is "more excitable".

DRFseven

While I can believe that there are a preponderance of gullible people who are theists, and I do think there is a genetic component to religiousity, I think we also need to recognize that there is more than one way to religion. Plenty of us analytical-type atheists would change our minds if we perceived a personal revelation from a god and I think there are intelligent, analytical theists, who, for unknown reasons (perhaps related to a combination of physiology and particular experiential learning), have perceived a revelation. If I perceived a tree lying across the street I was driving on, I'd believe it was actually there and I'd stop my car. Likewise, if I perceived anything else I'd have no choice but to treat it as real, at least to the point of attempting to investigate. Of course, not all theists experience revelations; indeed, some who lose their religion cite the lack of personal revelation as a primary reason and I think these are individuals for whom analysis is very important in truth-perception. Some, I think, based on my experience talking with people, count intuitive feelings as revelation, and I think these people are more likely to be theists. Very interesting post, Fiach.

Ierrellus

Fiach,

Excellent post; but what do you tell people like me who are looking for the words and pictures, all correlated, in some physical monitoring mechanism in the brain?

Washoe the chimp displayed a sense of humor. Where can I find that in the new phrenology of brain activity?

Ierrellus

PAX