從生理學或神經科學的角度看，「真」宗教有別於「假」宗教嗎？

01-29

看到如何看待美國聯邦地區法院判決飛天麵條神教不受憲法保護？ - 宗教這個問題想到的。想了解一下有沒有 evidence-based approach 來識別或區分 belief systems。

自己提的問題，在知乎的宗教、生理學和神經科學話題下似乎還沒有類似的討論。提完後隨手搜了幾篇可能相關的學術論文，感覺挺有意思的，希望可以拋磚引玉。

1. Wiech, K., Farias, M., Kahane, G., Shackel, N., Tiede, W., Tracey, I. (2008). An fMRI study measuring analgesia enhanced by religion as a belief system. Pain, 139(2), 467-476.

Abstract: Although religious belief is often claimed to help with physical ailments including pain, it is unclear what psychological and neural mechanisms underlie the influence of religious belief on pain. By analogy to other top-down processes of pain modulation we hypothesized that religious belief helps believers reinterpret the emotional significance of pain, leading to emotional detachment from it. Recent findings on emotion regulation support a role for the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), a region also important for driving top-down pain inhibitory circuits. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in practicing Catholics and avowed atheists and agnostics during painful stimulation, here we show the existence of a context-dependent form of analgesia that was triggered by the presentation of an image with a religious content but not by the presentation of a non-religious image. As confirmed by behavioral data, contemplation of the religious image enabled the religious group to detach themselves from the experience of pain. Critically, this context-dependent modulation of pain specifically engaged the right VLPFC, whereas group-specific preferential liking of one of the pictures was associated with activation in the ventral midbrain. We suggest that religious belief might provide a framework that allows individuals to engage known pain-regulatory brain processes.

通過 fMRI 觀察活動中的大腦區域（如 VLPFC），作者們發現具有宗教內容的圖像與鎮痛作用有關。

2. Harris, S., Kaplan, J. T., Curiel, A., Bookheimer, S. Y., Iacoboni, M., Cohen, M. S. (2009). The neural correlates of religious and nonreligious belief. PLoS One, 4(10), e7272.

Abstract: While religious faith remains one of the most significant features of human life, little is known about its relationship to ordinary belief at the level of the brain. Nor is it known whether religious believers and nonbelievers differ in how they evaluate statements of fact. Our lab previously has used functional neuroimaging to study belief as a general mode of cognition, and others have looked specifically at religious belief. However, no research has compared these two states of mind directly. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure signal changes in the brains of thirty subjects—fifteen committed Christians and fifteen nonbelievers—as they evaluated the truth and falsity of religious and nonreligious propositions. For both groups, and in both categories of stimuli, belief (judgments of 「true」 vs judgments of 「false」) was associated with greater signal in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, an area important for self-representation, emotional associations, reward, and goal-driven behavior. This region showed greater signal whether subjects believed statements about God, the Virgin Birth, etc. or statements about ordinary facts. A comparison of both stimulus categories suggests that religious thinking is more associated with brain regions that govern emotion, self-representation, and cognitive conflict, while thinking about ordinary facts is more reliant upon memory retrieval networks. While religious and nonreligious thinking differentially engage broad regions of the frontal, parietal, and medial temporal lobes, the difference between belief and disbelief appears to be content-independent. Our study compares religious thinking with ordinary cognition and, as such, constitutes a step toward developing a neuropsychology of religion. However, these findings may also further our understanding of how the brain accepts statements of all kinds to be valid descriptions of the world.

通過 fMRI 觀察活動中的大腦區域（如 VMPFC），作者們發現宗教思維與日常認知之間存在的差異。

3. Kapogiannis, D., Barbey, A. K., Su, M., Zamboni, G., Krueger, F., Grafman, J. (2009). Cognitive and neural foundations of religious belief. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(12), 4876-4881.

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 (Gods perceived level of involvement, Gods 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.

通過 fMRI 觀察活動中的大腦區域，作者們發現宗教信仰的某些特定組成與科學家熟知的腦網路介導有關。

4. Inzlicht, M., McGregor, I., Hirsh, J. B., Nash, K. (2009). Neural markers of religious conviction. Psychological Science, 20(3), 385-392.

Abstract: Many people derive peace of mind and purpose in life from their belief in God. For others, however, religion provides unsatisfying answers. Are there brain differences between believers and nonbelievers? Here we show that religious conviction is marked by reduced reactivity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a cortical system that is involved in the experience of anxiety and is important for self-regulation. In two studies, we recorded electroencephalographic neural reactivity in the ACC as participants completed a Stroop task. Results showed that stronger religious zeal and greater belief in God were associated with less firing of the ACC in response to error and with commission of fewer errors. These correlations remained strong even after we controlled for personality and cognitive ability. These results suggest that religious conviction provides a framework for understanding and acting within ones environment, thereby acting as a buffer against anxiety and minimizing the experience of error.

通過記錄 Stroop 測試時 ACC 區域的腦電圖，作者們發現宗教信念與減輕同犯錯相關的焦慮有關。

5. Inzlicht, M., Tullett, A. M. (2010). Reflecting on God: religious primes can reduce neurophysiological response to errors. Psychological Science, 21(8), 1184-1190.

Abstract: The world is a vast and complex place that can sometimes generate feelings of uncertainty and distress for its inhabitants. Although religion is associated with a sense of meaning and order, it remains unclear whether religious belief can actually cause people to feel less anxiety and distress. To test the anxiolytic power of religion, we conducted two experiments focusing on the error-related negativity (ERN)—a neural signal that arises from the anterior cingulate cortex and is associated with defensive responses to errors. The results indicate that for believers, conscious and nonconscious religious primes cause a decrease in ERN amplitude. In contrast, priming nonbelievers with religious concepts causes an increase in ERN amplitude. Overall, examining basic neurophysiological processes reveals the power of religion to act as a buffer against anxious reactions to self-generated, generic errors—but only for individuals who believe.

同樣研究了 ACC 區域，觀察了 ERN 信號，作者們發現只有信仰宗教的人才會出現上述焦慮減輕的情形。

繼答了一個跟信仰有關的問題，又有人邀我答這種奇怪的問題。

不從生理學或神經科學的角度看。宗教（belief system）的"真"和"假"是一個語義問題，這裡面並不是有兩種概念，一個"真宗教"一個"假宗教"，而是一個事物的兩面。

對於有宗教背景的人（或國家來說），顯然他所信仰的宗教才是真宗教，其他都是假宗教。而對於沒有宗教背景的人來說，根本不存在宗教的概念，所以所有宗教都可以是真，也可以是假。

所以，對於不同的主體來說，不存在一個統一的真假判別標準。

從所謂的生理學或神經科學這種"科學"的角度上看，如果你想要論證"真宗教"可以使人顯現出某種特殊的相，那麼你也得先定義"真宗教"是什麼。這一步是不可避免的，而且是完全主觀的。