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Religion and psychosis: a common evolutionary trajectory?
Simon Dein1, Roland Littlewood
1Department of Mental Health Sciences, University College London, Charles Bell House, 67 Riding House Street, London WC1 7EY, UK. s.dein@ucl.ac.uk
Transcultural Psychiatry
|July 12, 2011
Summary
Schizophrenia and religious cognition may share brain mechanisms for agency detection and theory of mind. While functional in religion, these cognitive modules are impaired in schizophrenia, suggesting a linked evolutionary path.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Evolutionary psychology
Background:
- Schizophrenia involves altered agency attribution and theory of mind.
- Religious cognition also relies on agency detection and theory of mind.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose that schizophrenia and religious cognition engage similar cognitive modules.
- To explore the similarities and differences in these modules' functioning.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of cognitive processes in schizophrenia and religious cognition.
- Examination of specific symptoms like thought insertion and delusions of reference.
Main Results:
- Both schizophrenia and religious cognition involve over-attribution of agency and overextension of theory of mind.
- These modules function normally in religious cognition but are impaired in schizophrenia.
Conclusions:
- Schizophrenia and religious cognition may share underlying cognitive architecture.
- The differing functionality suggests a potential related evolutionary trajectory for both phenomena.
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