From ABCNews.com is this rather intriguing article about the possibility of a "spiritual center" in the brain. Here's more from this fascinating article:
"The researchers worked with 88 patients with tumors in various locations in the brain and found that those with damage in the parietal region -- located in the top rear region of the brain -- could be seen to have a change in their attitude toward spirituality, something that tends to be relatively constant in a person.
This finding highlights the key role of parietal cortices in spirituality and suggests that changes of neural activity in specific areas may modify even inherently stable dispositional traits," explained Cosimo Urgesi, one of the study's lead researchers and an assistant professor in psychobiology and physiological psychology at the University of Udine in Italy.
The specific scale researchers used to determine spirituality is known as self-transcendence, a measure used to determine spirituality that appears to remain stable in a person over time.
The tumors researchers based on their findings on were gliomas, the same type of brain tumor with which doctors diagnosed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, that affects the brain tissue itself. Meningiomas, another type of brain tumor that does not affect tissue, did not have an impact on people in the study when removed, Urgesi said.
After the removal of gliomas from the rear of the brain, those patients showed a significant elevation in their level of self-transcendence."
There's much more to this article here on ABCNews.com ....have a peek!
