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“Glossolalia” is a practice that started in American charismatic churches around the turn of the 19th century, but that’s not what you know it as — it’s more commonly called “speaking in tongues.” In fact, the only reason we know the fancy term for it is that for the first time, scientists have scanned the brains of people while they, er, glossolaliazed:
In the study, the researchers used imaging techniques to track changes in blood flow in each woman’s brain in two conditions, once as she sang a gospel song and again while speaking in tongues. By comparing the patterns created by these two emotional, devotional activities, the researchers could pinpoint blood-flow peaks and valleys unique to speaking in tongues. …
The new findings contrasted sharply with images taken of other spiritually inspired mental states like meditation, which is often a highly focused mental exercise, activating the frontal lobes. The scans also showed a dip in the activity of a region called the left caudate. “The findings from the frontal lobes are very clear, and make sense, but the caudate is usually active when you have positive affect, pleasure, positive emotions,” said Dr. James A. Coan, a psychologist at the University of Virginia. “So it’s not so clear what that finding says” about speaking in tongues. The caudate area is also involved in motor and emotional control, Dr. [Andrew] Newberg, [the lead author of the study,] said, so it may be that practitioners, while mindful of their circumstances, nonetheless cede some control over their bodies and emotions.
In other words, they really are possessed?! We don’t think that’s exactly what the scientists are getting at, but we’d love to see more studies.
Comments (2)
Comment
I always knew that people who spoke in tongues weren’t in their right minds. Nice to see that science appears to be catching up with me. —grin, duck, and run—
posted by anomalous4 on 11-9-2006 at 4:05 pm
You’ll find a complete description of the speaking in tongues study in Newberg’s new book “Why We Believe What We Believe,” Since I’m one of the authors of the study, let me add some notes to this intriguing discussion. First, speaking in tongues is essentially an altered state of consciousness in which the person deliberately changes the overall neural functioning of his or her brain. Chanting, drumming, and shamanic trance states probably would show similar brain states, with decreases in frontal lobes and unusual changes in other areas. Interestingly, in Newberg’s other brainscan studies, nuns praying and Buddhists meditating had similar altered brain patterns to each other, but were almost the opposite of the Pentecostals, who never lost sense of themselves and thus do not feel “at one” with the universe or God. Instead they stay present, in dialogue with the Holy Spirit. Is God just an imaginative construct in the brain? Obviously yes (even if God does exist, the brain has to conceive of God to experience it). But what is most interesting about intense meditations is that they can permanently change the neural structure of the brain. All of Newberg’s subjects, including the nuns, Buddhists, and one atheist who attempted to pray to God (see the book, “Why We Believe What We Believe” for a full description of all of these studies) had assymetric activity in the thalamus when they weren’t even meditating. The longer you focus on any concept, other parts of the brain will respond as if that idea was objectively real. Focus on peace, you become more peaceful; focus on your anger, and your anger will feel justified and real. If you believe in God, God eventually becomes real. So be careful about what you believe!
posted by Mark Robert Waldman on 11-10-2006 at 1:57 pm