The neurophysiological correlates of religious chanting

Despite extensive research on various types of meditation, research on the neural correlates of religious chanting is in a nascent stage. Using multi-modal electrophysiological and neuroimaging methods, we illustrate that during religious chanting, the posterior cingulate cortex shows the largest de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 4262
Main Authors Gao, Junling, Leung, Hang Kin, Wu, Bonnie Wai Yan, Skouras, Stavros, Sik, Hin Hung
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Nature Publishing Group 12.03.2019
Nature Publishing Group UK
Subjects
Adult
Cortex (cingulate)
Delta Rhythm - physiology
Female
Gyrus Cinguli - diagnostic imaging
Gyrus Cinguli - physiology
Hong Kong
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Meditation
Middle Aged
Neuroimaging
Oscillations
Religion
Singing
Hong Kong
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Summary:Despite extensive research on various types of meditation, research on the neural correlates of religious chanting is in a nascent stage. Using multi-modal electrophysiological and neuroimaging methods, we illustrate that during religious chanting, the posterior cingulate cortex shows the largest decrease in eigenvector centrality, potentially due to regional endogenous generation of delta oscillations. Our data show that these functional effects are not due to peripheral cardiac or respiratory activity, nor due to implicit language processing. Finally, we suggest that the neurophysiological correlates of religious chanting are likely different from those of meditation and prayer, and would possibly induce distinctive psychotherapeutic effects.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-40200-w