The God Brain

### Cold Open

"For thousands of years, humans have explored the possibility of a connection to some kind of "higher power" in the universe. In other words, God. Today, billions of people around the world believe in such a divine being. But how exactly does the believing brain work? Is belief in God something hardwired in our brains, maybe even installed by some divine programmer? Or is spirituality a more complex evolutionary adaptation that has both helped and harmed us as a species. We've come to the Holy Land of Israel to embark on a journey into the God Brain. Over the next hour, we're gonna look at the neuroscience behind God, and show you the variety of ways belief and spirituality work in the brain. Even among those who swear that God does not exist. We're about to explore The God Brain, on Brain Games. "

## Games

#### Mini-Game: What do You... See???

What do you see? Or... what do you believe you see?

Result: The grid lines are not curving.

Why: Because of the retina's processing in black and white is different. However, this demonstrates once your brain believes something, it's hard to un-believe.

#### Mini-Game: Agree or Disagree

Read this statement. I perfer Sunny days to Cloudy Days.

Result: If you agree, cool.

But how much would you have to get to change your opinion?

Let's test this out.

### Experiment: Shekel It Up

Will people buy in and "change" their belief?

Result: For most basic beliefs, such as colors or objects, it's easy to change your opinion and cave in to the money. But not always.

Can we buy the biggest belief of all?

Result: No one caved in to money, not even atheists.

Why: It's a question of something material vs. something spiritual. If religion comes into play, morality comes into play and it's much more emotional. Clearly religion evokes emotion.

#### Mini-Game: Symbol Time

What symbol is this?

Result: A star, right?

How: It took your visual cortex less than a second to identify it with other regions of the brain.

But now look at religious symbols.

Result: If you're a Christian, the second symbol tried to shut down your visual cortex.

Why: Because it wants to turn down negative religious symbols.

Dr. Newberg: Common findings in the brain says that the Parietal Lobe often creates our sense of self. But it turns off during religious activity.

### Experiment: What Comes to Mind?

Imagine God. What comes to mind when you envision him? What do different results tell us about God?

Result: There are three general categories people see god as. As a person, as a symbol, and then abstract.

Why: As a person, we can relate personally. Younger artists often draw this. as a symbol, and theen abstract as we get older. The vision of God as a person is associated with Authoritarianism. Faithfulness may come from something more abstract.

Remember that checkerboard illusion?

Let's take it up a notch.

Do you feel the pattern pulsing or waving? Try moving towards a circle and away from it. It's not changing, your change in perspective from moving back and forth.

### Experiment: Music to God

Listen to the music, and pick a word that best describes it.

Result: The first song is joyful for many. The second song is scary and ominous.

Why: Despite difference in some beliefs, all of our brains share the same musical instincts. Major Key is music is often Joyful. The Minor Key generates anxiety or scaredness. While bad music is not considered bad today, but in ancient times, these sounds would have been unpleasant. But these chords can drive emotions and drive your beliefs. It's not all that different from the movies.

### Mini-Game: Slant

Which road is slightly off from the other?

Result: All of them are different.

So: Your brain must create order in chaos, but you saw a false pop-out. It's time to test this instinct.

#### Mini-Game: Oh, Face!

Look at these images. What do you see?

Result: You might see some Paredolia.

So: The Fusiform Gyrus helps you see faces.

### Experiment: Sight in Static

After attempting a cognitive task, they must try and see if they can identify anything in static images. You can play along.

#### Mini-Game: Not There

What's the answer to these puzzles. Then look at static.

Now, a second group tries the Expirement. But this time, the pressure is on and there's stress with a time limit.

Will this twist influence the static?

Why: The first group felt they had control as they played the first game, allowing them to get the answers correct. The group that lacked control, and say they saw something that wasn't there. The reason they saw something in the static may have been to do with the lack of control and trying to create order out of chaos. Is that the result of the God Brain? Who knows. But non-belivers aren't immune.

#### Mini-Game: I'm Skeptical

Pick between two choices.

Result: You probably picked the same option as most. Can we convince you to pick the other option without money? We'll come back to this.

### Experiment: I Can't Explain It

Will athesists feel something despite not having religious consequences? Let's look at a pen. The pen is more than 100 years old and was Einstein's pen. It's a collectible. Next is a V-neck. Who's willing to put it on? Oh wait, it belonged to Jefferey Dahmer. What about now? Are you creeped out? Let's find out if there's a reason for that. What role is belief playing? Does the evil contaminate the object? Well, not in this case, It's not really Jeffery Dahmer's V-neck. The belief that they are owned by somebody effects us, even the most skeptical brains.

Back to the choices.

What if we told you if those prizes you didn't pick were owned by celebrities? Does it change anything?

Well, if that didn't convince you, maybe something more personal is needed.

It's time to cut up photographs to test the volunteers' anxiety levels. But what happens when the photograph is something meaningful? For a rational person, that shouldn't be a problem. Or will it?

What's going on in their brains if they don't believe anything beyond the natural world and they're having anxiety, what's happening?

Their emotional system is triggered in their brains and the biases appear. Our brains' gut reactions are often the basis of religious belief, but supernatural brains aside.

#### Mini-Game: Do Good

We're giving you 10 dollars. We'll double everyone's donations, and how much you get back depends on what the group puts in, and you'll all get back the same amount. You have 3 seconds to decide.

Result: Now, think it over more.

Result: Were you a little stingy the second time?

Why: Donations drop given extra time. Your selfishness may have kicked in. We may share communal cooperation, but religion also matters in moral decisions.

### Experiment: Wire Buzzed

Volunteers must move a wire and report how many buzzes they make. What will happen, sitting alone?

Result: When's nobody watching, they under-report the mistakes they make.

Why: It doesn't matter if you're religious or not, people often fib about it. But what if someone else is "watching"?

#### Mini-Game: Connect the Pyramid

Do you see a pyramid on top of three circles?

Result: Yes

How: With few visual cues, you can win.

Back to the wire buzzed. With a lie about a "supernatural" presence or ghost story change the reporting?

Result: They report more accurately.

So: Even if you don't believe in the supernatural, the presence of something watching can set you on a moral alert.

As science evolves, how will we think of god?

#### Mini-Game: Hollow

Where's is einstein's face?

Result: The face sticks out.

Why: This is based on how your brain sees faces.

When will we not be able to distinguish an illusion from the real world?

## List of Experts

* Andrew Newburg(Guest)
* Trevor Cox(Guest)
* Jenifer Whitson(Guest)
* Dr. Bruce Hood(Guest)
* Cara Santa Maria(Science Journalist)