Pray for Peace of Mind

Faith in God has a calming effect according to a new University of Toronto study that shows distinct differences in the brains of religious believers versus non-believers while under stress. After hooking their subjects up to brain scanners, researchers then ratcheted up their angst by asking them to perform a series of tasks where they were likely to make mistakes. Compared to non-believers, the religious devotees showed significantly less activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), an area of the brain that helps redirect focus following an anxiety-producing event. The stronger their religious zeal and the more they believed in a higher power, the less subjects' ACCs fired in response to their own errors -- and the fewer goofs they made. The study's lead author, Michael Inzlicht, Ph.D., says believers tend to worry less about getting it wrong and about facing the unknown. But, he points out, this can cut both ways. "Obviously, anxiety can be negative because if you have too much, you're paralyzed with fear," he says. "However, it also serves a very useful function in that it alerts us when we're making mistakes. If you don't experience anxiety when you make an error, what impetus do you have to change or improve your behavior so you don't make the same mistakes again and again?"