Wednesday, November 08, 2006

The neuroscience of speaking in tongues



Amazing. I've spoken in tongues since high school, when I prayed for the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" as described in Acts one night. I still speak in tongues, or rather pray in tongues, regularly. Mostly, I do this because I believe speaking in tongues is a method of spiritual communion with God, who is also Spirit.

From yesterday's New York Times:
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania took brain images of five women while they spoke in tongues and found that their frontal lobes — the thinking, willful part of the brain through which people control what they do — were relatively quiet, as were the language centers. The regions involved in maintaining self-consciousness were active. The women were not in blind trances, and it was unclear which region was driving the behavior.
...
In the study, the researchers used imaging techniques to track changes in blood flow in each woman’s brain in two conditions, once as she sang a gospel song and again while speaking in tongues. By comparing the patterns created by these two emotional, devotional activities, the researchers could pinpoint blood-flow peaks and valleys unique to speaking in tongues.
...
The new findings contrasted sharply with images taken of other spiritually inspired mental states like meditation, which is often a highly focused mental exercise, activating the frontal lobes.

The scans also showed a dip in the activity of a region called the left caudate. “The findings from the frontal lobes are very clear, and make sense, but the caudate is usually active when you have positive affect, pleasure, positive emotions,” said Dr. James A. Coan, a psychologist at the University of Virginia. “So it’s not so clear what that finding says” about speaking in tongues.

The caudate area is also involved in motor and emotional control, Dr. Newberg said, so it may be that practitioners, while mindful of their circumstances, nonetheless cede some control over their bodies and emotions.

6 comments:

Bipin Sen said...

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Bipin Sen said...

now the interpretation... ;-)

had you ever mentioned that you spoke in tongues before? i'm not sure... but i had wondered.

Tyson said...

Ha ha ...

I don't think I've blogged on tongue-talking, but my profile tags me as charismatic, so you could've guessed.

Those who speak in tongues are in good company. Not only Paul spoke in tongues, but also all of the 120 in the upper room, very likely including Mary, the mother of Jesus! That's a funny thought.

Truth said...

That is intersting. Not completely sure what they are saying in the article, but just to do the research, someone must be either a tongues talker or really wanting to know if it is for real.

And bipen sen's comment was too funny.

Tongues are amazing!

Judy Callarman, Scrabble Has-Been said...

This makes me think that maybe the brain, when taken over by the Holy Spirit like this, is kind of like when you put your car in neutral and the carwash track takes hold of it and drives it through the carwash.

I'm very fascinated by tongue-talkin'.

Saur♥Kraut said...

Or (to be Devil's Advocate) maybe the brain goes that way due to elevated excitement and not the tongues. In other words, the excitement is caused by the tongues, but that doesn't mean that it's a valid experience. Credit that opinion to John MacArthur's "The Charasmatics".

On the other hand, I've grown to believe that tongues are a spiritual gift, over the years. So, I don't discount this at all.

TS, I've sent you an email. It's very important that you read it, please. I really need your advice.