November 7, 2006
A Neuroscientific Look at Speaking in
Tongues
By BENEDICT CAREY
The passionate, sometimes rhythmic, language-like patter that pours
forth from religious people who speak in tongues reflects a state
of mental possession, many of them say. Now they have some
neuroscience to back them up.
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.
The images, appearing in the current issue of the journal
Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, pinpoint the most active areas
of the brain. The images are the first of their kind taken during
this spoken religious practice, which has roots in the Old and New
Testaments and in charismatic churches established in the United
States around the turn of the 19th century. The women in the study
were healthy, active churchgoers.
The amazing thing was how the images supported peoples
interpretation of what was happening, said Dr. Andrew B. Newberg,
leader of the study team, which included Donna Morgan, Nancy
Wintering and Mark Waldman. The way they describe it, and what
they believe, is that God is talking through them, he said.
Dr. Newberg is also a co-author of Why We Believe What We
Believe.
In the study, the researchers used imaging techniques to track
changes in blood flow in each womans 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.
Ms. Morgan, a co-author of the study, was also a research subject.
She is a born-again Christian who says she considers the ability to
speak in tongues a gift. Youre aware of your surroundings, she
said. Youre not really out of control. But you have no control
over whats happening. Youre just flowing. Youre in a realm of
peace and comfort, and its a fantastic feeling.
Contrary to what may be a common perception, studies suggest that
people who speak in tongues rarely suffer from mental problems. A
recent study of nearly 1,000 evangelical Christians in England
found that those who engaged in the practice were more emotionally
stable than those who did not. Researchers have identified at least
two forms of the practice, one ecstatic and frenzied, the other
subdued and nearly silent.
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 its 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.