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Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Advance Access published online on February 25, 2009
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, doi:10.1093/scan/nsn050
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© The Author (2009). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Highly religious participants recruit areas of social cognition in personal prayer

Uffe Schjoedt1,2,3, Hans Stødkilde-Jørgensen2, Armin W. Geertz1 and Andreas Roepstorff3,4

1Department of the Study of Religion, 2MR-Research Centre, 3Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience and 4Department of Social Anthropology, University of Aarhus, Denmark

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.

Keywords: social cognition; theory of mind; belief; reciprocity; prayer

Correspondence should be addressed to Uffe Schjødt, cand.mag, Department of the Study of Religion, University of Aarhus, Taasingegade 3, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. us{at}teo.au.dk

Received February 1, 2008. Accepted December 4, 2008.


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