HOW DOES DREAMING IMPACT SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE & THE WAY PEOPLE RELATE TO GOD?

- OUR RESEARCH -

RELIGION & DREAMS

We hope to better understand the cognitive neuroscience behind dreams and religious cognition by using a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research techniques.

Potential participants will first take our Baseline Survey online which includes personality, cognitive, and religiosity scales, aiming to recruit participants with a variety of religious backgrounds.

Respondents who are selected to participate are then enrolled in a two-week study. For those two-weeks, participants complete daily journals, dream diaries, and questionnaires online. Half of the recruited subjects also wear EEG headbands to record brain activity while sleeping at home. Our researchers also conduct in-depth life interviews with all study participants over Zoom.

Project conducted online by the COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE of RELIGIOUS COGNITION at NCU

More Info About CNRC

Project Funding: The Templeton Foundation

Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and Northcentral University Receive $6.3 Million Grant to Research the Neuroscience of Religious ExperienceCHICAGO AND SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA (January 31, 2022) — The John Templeton Foundation has awarded Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and Northcentral University a $6.3 million grant to study the brain basis of religious thought. It is the first large project grant devoted specifically to this topic and the largest in terms of funding.The neuroscience of religious cognition is an emerging field that seeks to better understand how people experience religion from a neurological and physiological perspective.