Scientists Are Exploring The Human Cerebral Cortex

Scientists Are Exploring The Human Cerebral Cortex.
Higher levels of self-professed religious reliance appear to be reflected in increased thickness of a key brain area, a unfamiliar study finds. Researchers at Columbia University in New York City found that the outer layer of the brain, known as the cortex, is thicker in some areas all people who place a lot of significance on religion. The bone up involved 103 adults between the ages of 18 and 54 who were the children and grandchildren of both depressed survey participants and those who were not depressed.

A team led by Lisa Miller analyzed how often the participants went to church and the wreck of importance they placed on religion. This assessment was made twice over the track of five years. Using MRI technology, the cortical thickness of the participants' brains was also exact once.

The study, published Dec 25, 2013 in JAMA Psychiatry, revealed the value of religion or spirituality was linked with thicker cortices in certain parts of the brain. The sense was stronger among those at high genetic risk for depression than those at lower risk. This was uncommonly evident in a part of the brain where a thinner cortex may be linked with a familial risk for developing depression, the researchers noted.

Although the position of religion was tied with thicker cortices in some parts of the brain, the mug up showed the frequency of church attendance did not have the same association. This was true regardless of the participants' genetic jeopardy for depression alteril headaches. The findings only show an association between cortical thickness and religious belief "and therefore do not support a causal association," the study authors stressed.