Belief in God changes our brain, physician says

The image shows four circles with one part of each cut out. There are no connecting lines but many people see a square, said Dr. Andrew Newberg, because the brain fills in the blanks.

Newberg, author of the book, “How God Changes Your Brain,” and other books in the field of neuroscience, is a physician in internal medicine and nuclear medicine as well as director of research in Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia. Newberg has pioneered study of the brain during religious and spiritual experiences.

Newberg was a guest Friday at the 11th annual Spirituality and Health Seminar. His lectures focused on how our health and happiness is affected by spirituality and by our emotions.

The seminar was sponsored by Summit Health and Menno Haven Retirement Communities.

As a basis for his lectures, Newberg presented results of brain X-rays of people during prayer and at other times.

“Our frontal lobes are what sets us apart from other species,” said Newberg as he pointed to X-rays showing that the frontal lobes of brains are more active during prayer. His research found that those parts of the brain activated by prayer in believers were not activated by prayer in atheists.

“Prayer and meditation affects the brain differently, depending on a person’s belief in God,” Newberg said.

In a study of Franciscan nuns engaged in deep prayer, X-rays showed increased blood flow in the part of the brain where we perceive ourselves apart from the rest of the world.

He also learned that those who have been meditating for a long time have more activity in their frontal lobes compared to those who do not meditate.

A study of older people with memory problems and who didn’t meditate showed changes in the brains of those who, after eight weeks, meditated for 12 minutes each day.

Newberg said positive emotions activate areas in the brain involved with happiness and reward, and lower stress responses in the brain improve memory.

“Emotional pain activates the same areas of the brain as those activated from physical pain,” he said, adding that people are more likely to recall things related to emotional incidents because emotions help us remember.

We use cognition to help create and maintain beliefs, and memory is an important part of that process, Newburg said.

He said the more people focus on their beliefs, the stronger their beliefs become. Repetitive meditation and rituals are useful in reinforcing our beliefs.

“The brain is a belief making machine,” Newburg said. “Beliefs affect every part of our lives, and every part of our lives affect our beliefs. When people hold a certain belief system, if research comes out against it, people will find reasons to hold their initial beliefs — their reality,” he said.