The neuroscience of belief

We ask what happens in our brains when we’ve a belief, whether we're hard-wired to believe in a greater power, and if our beliefs can be used in medicine.

It’s an old question that seems all the more relevant lately: can we believe in God while we know that terrible tragedies happen every day? Many religions believe believers’ souls are rewarded after death for suffering, but neurosurgeon Henry Marsh (Atkinson Morley Hospital) finds that a small comfort. He has seen that brain diseases can leave patients profoundly altered as people. Can there really be a constant soul when people seem to change according to their brains? Henry Marsh will be joined by philosopher John Cornwell (Director of the Science and Human Dimension Project at Jesus College, University of Cambridge) and Baroness Susan Greenfield (Director of the Royal Institution and Professor of Pharmacology, University of Oxford). They will explore what happens in our brain when we have a belief, religious or not. Is belief hard-wired in our genes or an evolutionary strategy? Baroness Greenfield will look at the issue of studying belief scientifically and some possible applications. For example, there is the possibility of treating pain with belief – either secular (placebo) or religious – instead of with drugs. John Cornwell takes a different view. He’ll argue that even if science can produce an objective brain scan of belief, there are crucial subjective aspects of our belief experience that science can’t get at.

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