Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis
@article{Persinger1983ReligiousAM, title={Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis}, author={Michael A. Persinger}, journal={Perceptual and Motor Skills}, year={1983}, volume={57}, pages={1255 - 1262} }
Mystical and religious experiences are hypothesized to be evoked by transient, electrical microseizures within deep structures of the temporal lobe. Although experiential details are affected by context and reinforcement history, basic themes reflect the inclusion of different amygdaloid-hippocampal structures and adjacent cortices. Whereas the unusual electrical coherence allows access to infantile memories of parents, a source of god expectations, specific stimulation evokes out-of-body…
272 Citations
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