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 belief

Research 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 individuals

Age 19-34

Questionnaire → All religious participants attended mass at least once/week and prayed everyday

QUESTION: 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 factors

Religious → evoked most powerful religious feelings

Non-religious → rated most similar to religious image

Procedure:

Electrical stimulation to the back of the left hand

fMRI session

Coping and familiarity rating using visual analog

Methods

Procedure:

Pain ratings:

Significant effects for CONDITION and GROUP x CONDITION

GROUP 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 CONDITION

Religious 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 activation

Religious 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 VLPFC

Active for religious group/religious condition, leading to a decrease in perceived pain intensity

Active in previous studies of pain modulation

Pons/ventral midbrain

More strongly related to affectedness → active during preferred condition

Unknowns

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