Religion and the Brain

[Glenn Rosen]

In article <mah1002-121094141112 at mac110.nmus.pwf.cam.ac.uk>,
mah1002 at phx.cam.ac.uk (Mark Hayes) wrote:

> The following is taken from an article on memetics I once FTPed from
> mantis.co.uk:
> 
>   As an aside, there actually seems to be a very small chunk of brain
>  tissue that might be called a "religious stabilizing module". In rare cases
>  where this area was destroyed, the victims could change what seemed to be
>  deeply held religious beliefs several times a week.

You may be thinking of the interictal behavior syndrome associated with
temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Here are some articles that might be
helpful:

  Bear, D. M., Temporal lobe epilepsy-a syndrome of sonsory-limbic   
  hyperconnection, Cortex, 15 (1979) 357-384.

  Geschwind, N., Behavioral change in temporal lobe epilepsy, Arch. Neurol., 34 
  (1977) 453.

Glenn Rosen