The Neuroscience of Religious and Spiritual Practices: A Systematic Review of Neurotheological Evidence.

Waqar Husain, Achraf Ammar, Urwa-Tul Wusqa, Maha Farooq, Zehra Tariq, Seithikurippu R Pandi-Perumal, Ahmed S BaHammam, Khaled Trabelsi, Mark D Griffiths, Amir Pakpour, Haitham Jahrami

Journal: Brain and behavior 2026;16(9):e71733

PMID: 42670176

View on PubMed

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Religious and spiritual practices are among the most ancient and universal human behaviors, yet their neurobiological substrates remain incompletely characterized. Neurotheology-the scientific study of the relationship between spiritual experience and brain function-has produced growing evidence that such practices generate measurable, systematic, and neuroplastic changes in brain structure and function. However, prior reviews have been limited to single practice types, narrow evidence bases, or narrative methods, with none synthesizing the full spectrum of traditions, practices, and neuroimaging modalities in a single review.

METHODS

Adhering to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and registered on the Open Science Framework, Scopus, PubMed/MEDLINE, and ProQuest (23 sub-databases) were searched from inception to June 30, 2026. Eligible studies comprised those using objective neuroimaging or neurophysiological techniques. After multi-stage screening, 105 studies (1998-2026) were synthesized narratively using the synthesis without meta-analysis (SWiM) framework, given substantial heterogeneity.

RESULTS

Studies spanned Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Santo Daime, Spiritist, Sant Mat, and mixed traditions, examining meditation, prayer, chanting, recitation, worship, retreat, mystical experience, mediumistic trance, and ritual altered states. Consistent engagement appeared across the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, default mode network (DMN), insula, amygdala, hippocampus, temporoparietal junction, and dopaminergic/serotonergic systems. Practice-specific signatures emerged: meditation (DMN suppression, prefrontal augmentation), prayer (social-cognition networks), chanting/recitation (limbic deactivation, gamma/delta enhancement), and mystical states (most distributed profiles). Long-term practitioners showed structural neuroplasticity, and clinical-population studies linked these circuits to depression, anxiety, and stress.

CONCLUSIONS

Religious and spiritual practices produce consistent, practice-specific, and neuroplastic modifications to brain systems governing attention, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and reward-supporting a plausible mechanistic link between spiritual engagement and mental health, and positioning neurotheology as an empirically grounded dialogue between contemplative tradition and clinical neuroscience.

Address: Department of Humanities, COMSATS University Islamabad, Islamabad Campus, Islamabad, Pakistan.; Department of Training and Movement Science, Institute of Sport Science, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.; Research Laboratory, Molecular Bases of Human Pathology, LR19ES13, Faculty of Medicine of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.; Nutrition and Food Technology Department, Agriculture School, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.; Centre For Research and Development, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India.; Central Research Facility (CRF), Dr D.Y. Patil Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Dr D.Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pimpri, 411018, Pune, India.; Department of Medicine, University Sleep Disorders Center, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.; The Strategic Technologies Program of the National Plan For Sciences and Technology and Innovation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.; Research Laboratory Education, Motricité, Sport et Santé, EM2S, LR19JS01, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.; Department of Movement Sciences and Sports Training, School of Sport Science, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.; Nottingham Insitute of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK.; Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden.; Division of Anesthesia, Operation, and Intensive Care, Södertälje Hospital, Södertälje, Sweden.; Government Hospitals, Manama, Bahrain.; Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain.

DOI: 10.1002/brb3.71733

MeSH Terms: Humans, Spirituality, Brain, Neuronal Plasticity, Meditation, Neurosciences, Religion