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An fMRI study measuring analgesia enhanced by religion as a belief system. Wiech , Farias , Kahane , Shackel , Tiede , & Tracey (2008). Introduction. Stories of diminished physical pain or pain tolerance due to religious belief - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Wiech, Farias, Kahane, Shackel, Tiede, & Tracey (2008)
An fMRI study measuring analgesia enhanced by religion as a belief system
Stories of diminished physical pain or pain tolerance due to religious beliefResearch has shown that high-level cognitive processes such as placebo-induced analgesia, emotional detachment, and perceived control over pain can reduce pain intensity.Religious individuals → positive framing
fMRI studies and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC)
Introduction
1. Can religious belief be shown to modulate pain in a controlled experimental setting?
2. Is such modulation of pain by religious belief mediated by the right VLPFC?
Research Questions
Subjects:12 religious (Catholic) and 12 atheist/agnostic healthy
individualsAge 19-34Questionnaire → All religious participants attended mass at
least once/week and prayed everydayQUESTION: Should atheists be used in the control group?
Design:2 x 2 factorial design
GROUP (religious vs. non-religious) → between-subject
CONDITION (religious vs. non-religious) → within-subject
“Vergine Annunciate” by Sassoferrato
“Lady with an Ermine” by da Vinci
Methods
Visual stimuli:(1) The religious image had to reliably evoke a religious mind
set in believers and (2) the non-religious picture had to be sufficiently similar to the religious one in order to minimize the influence of confounding factors.
Image of Jesus may introduce confounding factorsReligious → evoked most powerful religious feelings
Non-religious → rated most similar to religious image
Procedure:Electrical stimulation to the back of the left handfMRI session
Coping and familiarity rating using visual analog
Methods
Procedure:
Pain ratings:Significant effects for CONDITION and GROUP x
CONDITIONGROUP was not significant → Religious not less
sensitive to pain
Atheist group rated pain same in both conditions
Results
Affectedness ratings:Significant effects for GROUP and GROUP x CONDITIONReligious sample → more positive ratings for religious image
Atheist sample → more positive ratings for non-religious image
*Both groups indicated differences in preferred image but only religious group also indicated pain reduction when viewing preferred image
Results
Coping and familiarity ratings:Both factors and interaction significant for coping
Religious → Virgin Mary more helpful in coping
Atheist → Both pictures equally helpful
Participants rated both pictures as equally familiar.
Neuroimaging data:No significant differences between groups for pain-related
brain activationReligious group/ religious image → significant activation in
right VLPFC and pons/ventral midbrain
*Support for 2nd research question
Results
*Religious group/ Religious image
Neuroimaging data:Activation in right VLPFC not due to preferential liking
→ no activation for atheist group with preferred image
Pons/midbrain activation found in both groups→ likely due to preferential liking
Results
Pons/midbrain area – most strongly associated with affectedness (positive)
Right VLPFC – most strongly associated with pain intensity (negative)
Results
Religious individuals are able to lessen the perceived pain intensity when they are presented with a religious image.
(1) Distraction effect(2) Motivational priming(3) Reappraisal – a process of reinterpreting the meaning of
a stimulus leading to a change in one’s emotional response to it.
→ Supported by data
→ Distraction and motivational priming – preferential liking should have produced a reduction in pain
Discussion
Right VLPFCActive for religious group/religious condition, leading to a
decrease in perceived pain intensityActive in previous studies of pain modulation
Pons/ventral midbrainMore strongly related to affectedness → active during
preferred conditionUnknowns
Is the pain-reduction effect started by the VLPFC or is the VLPFC compelled by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex?
QUESTION: Do you think similar pain-reduction effects can occur using stimuli that are not religious in nature but have similar cultural and nurturing influences?
Discussion
Catholic → familiar with image of Virgin Mary
Prayed the rosary every night → Hail Mary
Likely helped the survivors cope with the pain associated with injuries from crash, hunger, and the cold.
Andes Survivors