Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1983, 57, 1255-1262. © Perceptual and Motor Skills 1983
RELIGIOUS AND MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES AS ARTIFACTS OF
TEMPORAL LOBE FUNCTION: A GENERAL HYPOTHESIS
Micheal A. Persinger
Laurentian University
Summary: Mystical and religious experiences are hypothesized to be evoked by transient, electrical microseizures within deep structures of the temporal lobe. Although experiential details are affected by context and reinforcement history, basic themes reflect the inclusion of different amygdaloid-hippocampal structures and adjacent cortices. Whereas the unusual electrical coherence allows access to infantile memories of parents, a source of god expectations, specific stimulation evokes out-of-body experiences, space-time distortions, intense meaningfulness, and dreamy scenes. The species-specific similarities in temporal lobe properties enhance the homogeneity of cross- cultural experiences. They exist along a continuum that ranges from "early morning highs" to recurrent bouts of conversion and dominating religiosity. Predisposing factors include any biochemical or genetic factors that produce temporal lobe lability. A variety of precipitating stimuli provoke these experiences, but personal (life) crises and death bed conditions are optimal. These temporal lobe microseizures can be learned as responses to existential trauma because stimulation is of powerful intrinsic reward regions and reduction of death anxiety occurs. The implications of these transients as potent modifiers of human behavior are considered.
The neuropsychological basis of religious experiences and
God beliefs has been avoided by behavioral scientists. Yet these experiences,
in conjunction the confrontation and attenuation of death anxiety, constitute a
major class of human behaviors whose frequency is rivaled only by sex and
aggression. This paper briefly describes a general hypothesis that religious
and mystical experiences are normal consequences of spontaneous biogenic
stimulation of temporal lobe structures. The numbers, composition, and
intensity of these experiences reflect a continuum of temporal lobe stability.
Each human being may be located somewhere along this dimension.
The temporal lobe of the human brain is an optimal locus for
the creation of religious experiences. Cortical and deep structures (primarily
the amygdaloid and hippocampal complexes) are associated with the sense of
"self" in relationship to time and space, the memory-dependent
conception of their limits primary affective components of anticipation,
especially of nociceptive events. Given copious inputs from languaging
centers (Gloor, 1972), all of these experiences are influenced by suggestion
and by the rich imagery-evoking sequences of metaphorical language. It is not
surprising that anticipation of self-dissolution, death anxiety, would emerge
within this context.
Deep telencephalic structures have acquired particular
importance in human development. Experiences of self and the propensity for
self-preservation have been elaborated upon the general amygdaloid role of
hypothalamic modulation. The amygdala contains representations of
motivational states and their affective (pleasure or reward versus pain or
punishment) dimensions. Whereas crude (and wide spread) stimulation
evokes fear (Weingarten, Cherlow, & Holmgren, 1977) and general anxiety
(anticipation of negative stimuli), more subtle stimulation evokes intense
meaningfulness and peak experiences; the latter are often in conjunction with
altered body perceptions, such as out-of-body experiences (Jasper &
Rasmussen, 1958) or convictions of cosmic communion.
Intricate and highly organized connections between deep
structures and the overlying associative cortices allow complex memories and
language to control the evocation of amygdaloid experiences. Consequently, they
can be infused with the details of context and determined by the expectancy of
the person. Plentiful opiate receptor sites in this portion of the amygdala and
along the temporal pole (Pay, 1982) allow positive experiences to be influenced
by a chemical dimension that ranges from synthetic substances (morphine
derivatives) to the enkephalin physiology of life crises.
Considering the direct connections to the dorsomedial
portions of the thalamus and orbital frontal lobes, time distortions (e.g.,
viewing eternity in a split second) would not be unexpected. Sudden amygdaloid
stimulation and alteration of the sense of self in space-time could momentarily
alter hippocampal function and change memory reference. The alteration
may range from institution of memories that appear to be "old and
real" to the conviction that something meaningful and intensely personal
has happened (although the details are vague). A significant portion of
them would be characterized by a long latency between the time of the
experience and its report.
Three important physiological properties target the temporal
lobe as the source of mystical/religious experiences. Post-stimulation
electrical instability, an intrinsic feature of deep structures, allows the
creation of transient neuronal firing patterns that do not necessarily
represent concurrent sensory input. Instead, they could incorporate
combinations of memory and fantasy, but still within the context of the moment.
This region is well known for its capacity to generate learned seizures
(kindling); antithetically, conditioned inhibition of seizure patterns, is also
predictable and has been observed (Efron, 1957).
Second, these areas are prone to vascular anomalies such as
transient vasospasms. They are now considered a primary cause of
hallucinatory experiences (Altura & Altura, 1981). The recent evolutionary
changes in the position of Ammon's horn, including the formation of an extra
gyrus to accommodate this development, has fostered vasospasmogenic potential
due to the odd cytoarchitecture. This is enhanced by the conspicuous coronal
asymmetry of the Sylvian fissures (
The plasticity of temporal lobe neuronal and glial
populations are exceptional. Cellular membranes in this region are prone to
both interneuronal and neuronal-glial fusion, an important predisposing factor
to psychomotor epilepsy (Schwartzkroin, 1983); within less extreme conditions,
it aids unusual mixtures of cell ensembles. They can be affected by vitamin B
deficiencies, hormonal fluctuations, hypoglycemia, hypoxia, and tumorogenesis,
to which these structures are particularly sensitive (Breggin, 1979). Although
postnatal neurogenesis has not been clearly demonstrated in man, this area
displays environmental-dependent alterations in dendritic arborbization that
are evident even by light microscopy (Buell & Coleman, 1979).
According to the hypothesis, the actual mystical or
religious experience is evoked by a transient (a few seconds), very focal,
electrical display within the temporal lobe. Such temporal lobe transients
(TLTs) would be analogous to electrical microseizures without any obvious motor
components; some facial expressions, such as ecstasy and occasional lacrimation
would be noticeable. Lip smacking, facial distortions, automatisms, and vagal
glossopharyngeal-mediated vocalization (speaking in tongues), followed by
amnesia, would occur in more extreme conditions. Although most TLTs should be
subcortical in origin, some would be represented within electroencephalic (EEG)
profiles. They would be characterized by local, perhaps even lead- specific,
transient, seizure-like signatures surrounded by normal activity.
Experiential details of the TLT would be influenced by the
specific environmental context (church versus public place), the label paired
with the experience (god versus cosmic consciousness) and the relative
inclusion of reward (good: heaven) versus aversive (bad: hell) neuronal
centers. Since normal TLTs are biogenic, they will be brief, quickly attenuated
in brain space and easily accommodated into experience. More elaborate or
bizarre components, especially fear or the sense of evil, would occur in
widespread TLTs due to ectopic neuronal connections (as in the epileptic-prone
brain) or to unusually intense external stimulation by brain frequency
electromagnetic fields (Persinger, 1983). Stimuli that are not typically detected
by the person may be registered during TLTs.
Although the content of TLT experiences would reflect the
person's learning history (referencing Allah versus Jehovah), the general
pattern of themes would be consistent across every human culture due to the
similarities of temporal lobe function. Persistent patterns of reported
experience would be due to electrical coherence (Brazier, 1972) through which
structures, typically not coordinated, display brief interaction. Systematic
access to (1) infantile
memories of parental images (perhaps even perinatal representations
proprioception), and (2) images from before four to five years of age and
memories for which there are no retrieval formats, could occur. Both would be
attributed to extrinsic ("ego-alien") sources (Mahl, Rothenberg,
Delgado, & Hamfin, 1964), and be incorporated within experiences that share
similar neuroelectrical patterns. The former would be a universal source of God
(parent surrogate) images while the latter would foster conclusions of
"previous lives" or "other memories."
Complex sequences are influenced simply by the numbers of
structures incorporated into the TLTs. Since they are primarily positive
experiences, the responsible neuronal aggregates should be near fields of reward
neurons. To some extent, all of these experiences have been evoked, in a
fragmented manner, by crude surgical stimulation (Gloor, 1972; Horowitz &
Adams, 1970). They include out-of-body experiences (mental diplopia),
vestibular sensations (spinning through time-space), auditory experiences
(rushing sounds, the voice of god or a spirit creature giving instructions),
perceptual alterations (looking down a tunnel; bright lights), and
peacefulness. Like direct cranial stimulation, the experiences may be perceived
in a dream atmosphere. Since neuronal ensembles associated with the
"sense of self" are also recruited, TLTs have great personal
significance whose privacy is protected.
The hypothesis predicts that there exists a temporal lobe
syndrome containing experiential aggregates that reflect its function (Ervin,
1975). Repeated, intense hallucinogenic TLTs should be followed by and
reciprocal to delusions (Weinstein, 1970). Extreme and bizarre symptoms, such
as circumstantiality, a sense of the personal (egocentric references; divine
guidance), viscosity (perseveration), hypergraphia (diary writing), altered
affect, and, of course, a dominating religiosity occupy one of the continuum.
They would be evident as interictal behaviors in populations with various
stages of temporal lobe epilepsy (Geschwind, 1983) or temporal lobe psychosis
(Bear & Fedio, 1977).
Less severe displays, which are woven within the dynamics of
borderline or "soft" temporal lobe signs and do not involve disorders
in thought processes, constitute the central region of the scale. Typical
symptoms would include: early morning highs (0200 to 0400 hr.), déja-vu
experiences, vibration sensations before sleeping, "waves of energy
permeating the body," recurrent vivid dreams, intense meaningfulness after
reading material about unusual or unexpected situations, feelings of unreality
(depersonalization), peaceful at quiescent episodes of diffuse concentration,
memory blanks, experiencing the presence of other beings, the special personal
significance of chance events and the distortions in serial order of events
(telepathic/precognitive experiences). They are normal responses; only
their frequency or duration of occurrence and the degree to which they dominate
the person's behavior predict the potential pathology.
A variety of predisposing factors would determine each
person's initial position along the temporal lobe continuum. People whose
brains are prone to membrane fusion and to recurrent low-level epileptogenic
foci, would be particularly sensitive. Ontogenic changes alter this
probability. Major peaks in the occurrence of religious/mystical experiences
occur around pubescence, as indicated by normal temporal lobe peculiarities
during this period (Kiloh, McComas, & Osselton, 1972), and later during the
deterioration of geriatric progression. However, any condition that increases
deep structure lability, including cultural practices or racial by cultural
interactions, are important predisposing factors for TLTs.
The more intense the precipitating agent in general, the
more complex and vivid the TLT experience. A range of precipitating factors
exist less severe and mundane stimuli include fatigue, social isolation, peaks
(early morning) or shifts (travel) in circadian rhythms, musical stimuli,
smells (incense), and vestibular (rocking) stimuli. They could be combined in
various patterns but their efficacy would be dominated by the learned or
physiological propensity to statistically stimulate relevant temporal lobe
structures. Intermediate stimuli, which could be singularly effective, include
hypoglycemia (fasting), hypoxia ("mountain top reveries"), certain
psychedelic drugs, intense pain (including child birth), and direct stimulation
of peripheral limbic afferents, such as the sciatic nerve, by exotic procedures
(yoga positions).
Two life crises, the anticipation of self-demise and the
loss of a loved one, are notorious biochemical disruptors that particularly
influence TLT probability. Whereas the former increases with age (as death
becomes imminent) and generates frank religious experience (such as hearing God
state, "you will live forever"), the latter schedule changes are
followed by sequences that are more directly related to the lost person
(postmortem apparition reports). Both types of events are hallucinatory
solutions (Bauer, 1970) to the problem; they appear extraordinarily real and
very personal.
The psychophysiological correlates of near-death conditions
should be the strongest precipitators of TLTs. Progressive alteration in blood
flow and transient vasospasms in key areas, accentuated by the gradual
deterioration of the body or by surgical procedures (anesthesia), allow
prolonged and optimal temporal lobe conditions. Unlike some presumptions
(Grosso, 1981), a flat EEG reflects cortical activity and would not necessarily
measure TLTs within deep structures. That they are electrically responsive to
environmental stimuli is evident even in normal spindle and deep sleep.
However, attentuation of cortical contributions would highlight the shared
characteristics of these portions of the human brain and increase the
homogeneity of the reported
experienc across human cultures (Shiels, 1978). Controlling for cultural
expectations (Osis, 1961), death bed experiences should be influenced by drugs
that affect amygdaloid receptor sites (morphine) or vasospasm (verapamil).
There is no doubt that TLTs can be conditioned since they
are intrinsically rewarding experiences; they can be considered learned
microseizures provoked by precipitating stimuli and followed by anxiety
reduction. People whose brains are prone to self-stimulation would be
characterized by multiple conversions and protracted periods of
religious/mystical experiences; the latter is not unusual in populations of
temporal lobe psychotic patients (Slater & Beard, 1963). Because of the
intensity of TLT reward, any antecedent conditions could become strong
secondary reinforcers. In more pathological cases, personal adversity or crisis
may become rewarding since they are followed persistently by the TLT high. Such
individuals would be prone to periodic bouts of conversion mania,
rededications, and repeated "cult jags" (Persinger,
Suess, 1980).
All cultures contain techniques that facilitate the
controlled occurrence of TLTs; most have been selected and maintained on the
basis of their consequences: mystical experiences. Behavioral operations that
optimize the more blatant symptoms of temporal lobe instability, include forced
thinking (mantras), repetition of sounds, alteration of normal sensory
modalities, relaxation, and even dietary changes in tryptophan or pyridoxal
phosphate (Ervin, 1975). Unique and specific situations, such as nonsense
words, foreign languages, special phrases or even particular places or people,
are potent discriminative stimuli. The many facets of group camaraderie are
particularly effective. However metaphorical language is the most profuse
precursor to TLTs.
Given the profound capacity to evoke pleasurable and
meaningful experiences, reduce existential anxiety and generate the security of
old parental experiences (the origin of god images), TLTs are potent modifiers
of human behavior. A singular episode, in the appropriate context, can be
followed by long-term behavioral changes. The threat of removal of these
experiences or the challenge of their construct validity, is an obvious source
of anxiety. Since behavioral scientists are also human beings, it is not
surprising that the persual of a neuropsychological basis to religious experiences
has been conspicuously avoided by them.
The necessity for TLT generation probably paralled the
capacity for abstract anticipation during the development of the frontal lobe.
Without the emergence of TLTs as anxiety buffers against the ubiquitous threat
of self-extinction, the elaboration and maintenance of the neural patterns
responsible for the human sense of self may have been impeded. Although this
development had broad evolutionary significance, its continuation within
contemporary human behavior is ominous.
If TLTs are the source of religious experiences, then three
immediate issues become relevant. First, these portions of the brain are
also correlated with bursts of aggression (Geschwind, 1983); since the sense of
personal meaningfulness is an intricate component of religious experiences, is
there a genetic propensity to kill with the conviction of cosmic consent
following specific types of TLTs? Second, many acute religious behaviors are
correlated with opiate-like complacency, helplessness, and the expectation of
divine deliverance; how would the decision-making patterns of people who occupy
powerful political positions be influenced by TLTs during the threat of self-
annihilation? Third, if TLTs are primarily biogenic neuropatterns, they will be
simulated ultimately, by modern technology. If they can be evoked by artificial
methods, what are the clinical implications for the control of religious
experiences? These questions are immediate derivations of the hypothesis.