Neuroscience Letters 405 (2006) 186–190 Neural correlates of a mystical experience in Carmelite nuns Mario Beauregard a,b,c,d,e,∗, Vincent Paquette a,c,e a D´epartement de Psychologie, Universit´e de Montr´eal, Montr´eal, Que., Canada b D´epartement de Radiologie, Universit´e de Montr´eal, Montr´eal, Que., Canada c Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition (CERNEC), Universit´e de Montr´eal, Montr´eal, Que., Canada d Centre de Recherche en Sciences Neurologiques (CRSN), Universit´e de Montr´eal, Montr´eal, Que., Canada e Centre de Recherche, Institut universitaire de g´eriatrie de Montr´eal (CRIUGM), Montr´eal, Que., Canada Received 23 March 2006; received in revised form 8 June 2006; accepted 26 June 2006 Abstract The main goal of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to identify the neural correlates of a mystical experience. The brain activity of Carmelite nuns was measured while they were subjectively in a state of union with God. This state was associated with significant loci of activation in the right medial orbitofrontal cortex, right middle temporal cortex, right inferior and superior parietal lobules, right caudate, left medial prefrontal cortex, left anterior cingulate cortex, left inferior parietal lobule, left insula, left caudate, and left brainstem. Other loci of activation were seen in the extra-striate visual cortex. These results suggest that mystical experiences are mediated by several brain regions and systems. © 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Carmelite nuns; Mystical state; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Temporal lobes; Prefrontal cortex; Parietal cortex; Spiritual neuroscience The turn of the new millennium has seen the emergence of riences linked to temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) [14,30,40].In “Spiritual neuroscience”, a field of scientific investigation at the particular, ictal RSMEs have been associated with interictal crossroads of psychology, religion and spirituality, and neuro- intensification of spiritual and mystical feelings [34,43] as well science. The main objective of this novel domain of research is to as religious conversion [15]. Moreover, in a previous study [37], explore the neural underpinnings of religious/spiritual/mystical two patients with TLE along with a group of highly religious vol- experiences (RSMEs). These experiences relate to a fundamen- unteers and a non-religious group were shown a list of words, tal dimension of human existence and are frequently reported which included sexual, violent, religious and “neutral” terms. across all cultures [18,19]. One of the basic assumptions of Galvanic skin response was used to measure the emotional spiritual neuroscience is that RSMEs are brain-mediated, as arousal induced by the various categories of words. The non- are all other aspects of human experience. With respect to religious group showed galvanic skin responses when presented this issue, it is of paramount importance to fully appreciate with sexual words. The two patients with TLE responded more that elucidating the neural substrates of these experiences does strongly to the religious words than to the sexual and violent not diminish or depreciate their meaning and value, and that words. the external reality of “God” can neither be confirmed nor The parietal cortex may also be involved in RSMEs. A recent disconfirmed by delineating the neural correlates of RSMEs single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) study [40]. has measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in Francis- It has been hypothesized that RSMEs are evoked by tran- can nuns at prayer involving the internal repetition of a particular sient, electrical microseizures within the temporal lobes [36]. phrase [33]. Compared to rest, the prayer state showed increased Anecdotal evidence indicates that RSMEs sometimes occur in rCBF in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the inferior frontal lobes, conjunction with ictal, peri-ictal, and post-ictal seizure expe- and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). In addition, the rCBF change in the left PFC showed an inverse correlation with that in the ipsilateral superior parietal lobule (SPL). Changes in SPL ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 514 343 7651; fax: +1 514 340 3548. activity were interpreted as reflecting an altered sense of the E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Beauregard). body schema experienced during the prayer state [32,33]. 0304-3940/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2006.06.060 M. Beauregard, V. Paquette / Neuroscience Letters 405 (2006) 186–190 187 The main goal of this functional magnetic resonance imaging ranging from 0 (no experience of union) to 5 (most intense expe- (fMRI) study was to identify the neural correlates of a mysti- rience of union ever felt): self-report data referred solely to the cal experience (as understood in the Christian sense) in a group experiences lived during these two conditions, not to the origi- of contemplative Carmelite nuns. Mystical experience is char- nal experiences recalled to self-induce the Control and Mystical acterized by a sense of union with God. It can also include a states. The phenomenology of the mystical experience during number of other elements, such as the sense of having touched the Mystical condition was assessed with 15 items of the Mys- the ultimate ground of reality, the experience of timelessness ticism Scale [21]. This scale, which comprises 32 items, aims at and spacelessness, the sense of union with humankind and the measuring reported mystical experience. Summed scores of 15 universe, as well as feelings of positive affect, peace, joy and or above were considered significant for a given item. In addi- unconditional love [41]. tion, qualitative interviews were conducted after the experiment Fifteen Carmelite nuns (age range: 23–64; mean age: 49.93, to obtain additional information regarding the nature of the sub- S.D.: 11.27) took part in the study. The average duration of jective experiences during the Control and Mystical conditions. affiliation with the Carmelite order was 19.27 (S.D.: 11.49; Echoplanar images (EPI) was acquired on a 3 T system (Mag- range: 2–37). Subjects had no history of psychiatric or neu- netom Trio, Siemens Electric, Erlangen, Germany). Twenty- rological disorder. They were not smokers and were not taking eight slices (5 mm thick, voxel size = 3.4 mm × 3.5 mm × 5 mm) psychotropic medications at the time of scanning. Nine subjects were acquired every 2 s in an inclined axial plane. These T2* were menopausal. All subjects gave written informed consent weighted functional images were acquired using an EPI pulse and the study was approved by the ethics committee of the sequence (echo-space time = 0.8 ms, TE = 30 ms, Flip = 90◦, CRIUGM. FOV = 215 mm, Matrix = 64 × 64). Following functional scan- Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal changes were ning, high-resolution anatomical data were acquired using a gra- measured during a Mystical condition, a Control condition, and dient echo pulse sequence. Earpad foam cushions surrounding a Baseline condition. In the Mystical condition, subjects were the head of the subjects and earplugs were used to significantly asked to remember and relive (eyes closed) the most intense reduce perception of the noise generated by the MRI scanner. mystical experience ever felt in their lives as a member of Data were analyzed using Statistical Parametric Mapping the Carmelite Order. This strategy was adopted given that the software (SPM2). The images for all subjects were spatially nor- nuns told us before the onset of the study that “God can’t be malized into an MRI stereotactic space [42]. Using a “random- summoned at will.” In the Control condition, subjects were effects model”, paired Student’s t-tests were performed to com- instructed to remember and relive (eyes closed) the most intense pare the brain activity associated with the various conditions. A state of union with another human ever felt in their lives while total of 100 volumes were acquired for the Baseline condition. being affiliated with the Carmelite Order. The week preceding Given this, the last 50 volumes of the two blocks belonging to the experiment, subjects were requested to practice these two either the Mystical condition or the Control condition (150 vol- tasks. The Baseline condition was a normal restful state (eyes umes were acquired for each type of block) were concatenated closed). Resting state has been previously used to identify the to perform these comparisons with an equal number of volumes neural correlates of different meditative states [20,28,29]. The (100) for each condition (Mystical, Control, Baseline). The vol- blocked-design paradigm used was as follows: Resting block umes belonging to the last portion of the Mystical and Control (30 s), Control block (duration: 5 min), Resting block (duration: blocks were selected. Given the highly exploratory nature of this 1 min), Control block (duration: 5 min), Resting block (dura- study, a whole-brain post hoc analysis was performed. Height tion: 1 min), Mystical block (duration: 5 min), Resting block threshold was set at P < 0.001, uncorrected for multiple com- (duration: 1 min), Mystical block (duration: 5 min). Several fac- parisons. Only clusters showing a spatial extent of at least 10 tors motivated the choice of such a design: (1) Mystical and contiguous voxels were kept for image analysis. Control blocks had to be long enough to allow the subjects to The average intensity of the subjective experience was experience the target states. About this issue, a previous fMRI 3.06 ± 0.93 (range: 2–5) during the Mystical condition and study of meditation [27] has demonstrated that it is possible 3.04 ± 0.80 (range: 2–5) during the Control condition. As for the to measure, during relatively long periods of time (e.g., 6 min phenomenology of the subjective experience during the Mysti- blocks), BOLD signal changes that can be differentiated from cal condition, summed scores of 15 or above were noted for three low-frequency noise.