Friday, August 24, 2012

"My Protestant Kid Can Beat Up Your Pentacostal Kid"

"My Protestant kid can beat up your Pentecostal kid," at least if hippocampus size has anything to do with it. A study done last year at Duke University Medical Center found that the size of the hippocampus (which is located in the medial temporal lobe of your brain, under the cerebral cortex) is larger in Protestants who did not have a "born again" experience as opposed to those who reported a life-changing religious experience, or Catholics or unaffiliated older adults. The subjects of the study were initially recruited for a larger study on the effects of depression in the elderly.

To determine the answer to the more relevant question, as a follow on study, I think they should examine the brains of the researchers, to determine how a study about elderly depression could morph into a study on the relationship of born-again experiences to brain size. Their data might be very conclusive.

You can read the details here.


photo credit: Mo Morgan

2 comments:

Martin Diers said...

Does that mean enthusiasm is genetic?

Scott Diekmann said...

Perhaps so Pastor Diers. Maybe they'll do a follow-up study on that.