Music, Spirituality, Religion and the Human Brain
The connection between music, spirituality, and religion is so widespread
as to be nearly universal. Since the dawn of humanity and across a broad
spectrum of cultures around the world, music and musical experience have
been an integral part of spirituality and religion. Strangely, there has
been very little scholarly research on this topic. In this project, Drs.
Janata and Sylvan, together with a group of leading researchers, will examine
the relationship between music, spirituality, and religion in terms of underlying
psychological and neuroscientific principles. Their approach is interdisciplinary
and examines the relationship of these core human experiences at three levels
of analysis.
In Theme 1, titled “Music and Spirituality: A Universal Connection,”
the link between music, spirituality, and religion is studied in six groups
which represent a broad spectrum of religious and spiritual experience.
Two of these groups are from mainstream western religions (a Christian church
and a Jewish synagogue), two are from non-western religions (a Hindu temple
and a Yoruba/West African temple), and two are from non-religious but spiritual
musical communities (the rave/electronic dance music scene, and the ‘jam-band’
scene). Interviews and surveys administered to members of these groups will
identify the aspects of music and musical experiences that create and shape
spiritual/religious experiences. In using both religious and secular groups,
the research allows for a well-balanced and controlled assessment of how
emotion, spirituality, and religiosity interact in the context of musical
experience.
In Theme 2, titled “Music, the Self, and Spiritual Experience,” the findings of Theme 1 are translated into structured psychological experiments. Two projects emphasize
complementary aspects of musical experiences. Project 1
focuses directly on the memories, thoughts, and emotions that are triggered
while a person listens to salient and non-salient excerpts of music. Project
2 focuses on the role of sensorimotor synchronization in the emotional and
spiritual experience of music.
In Theme 3, titled “A Neurobiological Theory of Music
and Spiritual Experience,” the experiment paradigms elaborated in
Theme 2 are adapted slightly to facilitate the collection of physiological
data, including autonomic nervous system responses, the electroencephalogram
(EEG), and blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals collected in functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments. The researchers will test
a specific hypothesis that the medial prefrontal cortex, know to mediate
interactions between emotion and cognition and maintain a sense of self,
shows heightened activity at times when the subject experiences a strong
emotional/spiritual response to the music. This response may come about
when listening to a highly salient piece of music (Project 1) or through
active musical interaction in the form of tapping along with rhythmic musical
stimuli (Project 2).
The implications of this research are broad. Religion, spirituality, and music are central aspects of cultures around the world. The public devotes tremendous time and resources in pursuit of them. However, the scientific understanding of these phenomena is weak, given their importance to our species. This project is an unprecedented effort to rigorously examine their interconnectedness.
For more information, see http://tarp.ucdavis.edu/