The Spiritual Brain: Selective Cortical Lesions Modulate Human Self-Transcendence
Neuron February 1, 2010 Cosimo Urgesi, Salvatore M. Aglioti, Miran Skrap et al. 220 citations
Damage to specific regions in the left and right inferior posterior parietal cortex can increase self-transcendence, a personality trait linked to spiritual feelings and behaviors. Combining personality assessments before and after neurosurgery with brain-lesion mapping, the authors found that selective damage to these parietal areas induced a specific increase in self-transcendence, suggesting that neural activity in temporoparietal areas can rapidly modulate this normally stable trait. The findings point to an active role of left and right parietal systems in self-transcendence and offer insights into the neurobiological basis of altered spiritual and religious attitudes in neurological and mental disorders.