“Neuromodulation of Group Prejudice and Religious Belief” aka “Neuromodulating Ideology” is a paper published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Advance, September 4, 2015 AD. The study was conducted by Colin Holbrook, Keise Izuma, Choi Deblieck, Daniel M. T. Fessler and Marco Iacoboni who are from the University of California, Los Angeles and University of York.
The Abstract notes:
The posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC)…mediates adjustments in adherence to political and religious ideologies. We presented participants with a reminder of death and a critique of their in-group ostensibly written by a member of an out-group, then experimentally decreased both avowed belief in God and out-group derogation by down-regulating pMFC activity via transcranial magnetic stimulation. The results provide the first evidence that group prejudice and religious belief are susceptible to targeted neuromodulation.
The study was conducted on 38 “politically moderate” participants. I will not focus on the “Group Prejudice” aspect as it pertains to politics and issues such as immigration rather, I will focus on the “Religious Belief” aspect.
The study notes:
Parochial ideologies motivate numerous aspects of human social life, from art movements to wars. Moralistic ideologies involving group chauvinism and religion are arguably the most socially impactful—and, at times, the most perniciously divisive.
The study engaged in “threat eliciting” as “threats moderate commitment” thus, the researchers set the participants to “exposure to threats (e.g., reminders of death, uncertainty, or meaninglessness)” so as to “increase ideological investment.” They sought to investigate “conflict-response systems” and that which functioned towards “managing social isolation.”
…activity in the anterior cingulate region is associated with anxiety, and the act of imagining cherished ideological convictions has been found to activate brain states associated with approach motivation and subsequent reductions in anxiety…Participants whose pMFC has been experimentally down-regulated via TMS [transcranial magnetic stimulation] should therefore display less religiosity following a reminder of their own mortality and less derogation of critical out-group members. [emphasis added for emphasis and likewise for all added emphasis which follows]
The bottom line seems to be a form of literal technology based mind control as it is stated that “the present study should be regarded as an initial investigation of whether ethnocentrism or religiosity can be experimentally neuromodulated.” Thus, they seek to modulate a person’s thoughts and therefore actions by disrupting their brain function via magnetic stimulation—I could see an Atheist hat being developed from this or installation of magnetic stimulation at doorways to stores and various buildings.
The methodology was that researchers “primed all participants with thoughts of death…followed by a self-report affect schedule to assess potential effects of TMS on conscious emotion”:
Religious belief was then measured using two self-report scales targeting parallel “negative” beliefs in the Devil, demons, and Hell, and “positive” beliefs in God, angels, and Heaven, respectively. We predicted that the TMS manipulation would particularly decrease the endorsement of positive religious beliefs (as the negative beliefs do not offer as appealing an alternative to non-existence following death)…
We used continuous theta-burst stimulation, in which 600 pulses were applied in bursts of three pulses at 50 Hz, repeated at 5 Hz for a total of 40 seconds (see the Supplementary Online Materials [SOM] for details). This technique has been demonstrated to reduce neural activity for at least one hour…
Next, participants were asked to write brief responses on the subject of their own death, a threat-induction that was selected because of the evident link between the prospect of death and palliative thoughts of God and the afterlife.
So, reduced neural activity leads to Atheism.
…religious belief was measured using a version of the Supernatural Belief Scale (Jong et al., 2013) modified to create two scales which mirror “positive” and “negative” aspects of Western religious belief…
The positive scale consisted of: (a) “There exists an all-powerful, all-knowing, loving God”; (b) “There exist good personal spiritual beings, whom we might call angels”; (c) “Some people will go to Heaven when they die”; (α = .90). The negative scale consisted of: (a) “There exists an evil personal spiritual being, whom we might call the Devil”; (b) “There exist evil, personal spiritual beings, whom we might call demons”; (c) “Some people will go to Hell when they die” (α = .93). An overall religiosity variable combining both scales was calculated by averaging all six items (α =.95).
Figure 2. Effects of TMS on endorsement of “positive”versus “negative” religious beliefs.
The result is that “overall avowed religious belief (including both positive and negative beliefs) was reduced in the TMS condition…a significant reduction in expressed belief in “positive” religious ideas. Also, note that “Down-regulating the pMFC via TMS significantly decreased…avowed belief in God, angels, and Heaven following a reminder of death…ratings of traditionally positive religious beliefs (e.g., belief in a benevolent God) decreased.”
Participants in the TMS condition reported an average of 32.8% less conviction in “positive” religious beliefs…than did sham participants” who nevertheless, “also reported less conviction in negative religious beliefs.” The study “applied TMS or sham stimulation” with sham referring to a placebo.
While it is reported that “The present study provides a ‘proof-of-concept’ that adherence to high-level, abstract beliefs can be experimentally neuromodulated” it is also noted that “Our data therefore do not reveal whether down-regulation of the pMFC via TMS would reduce…religious belief in the absence of a recent threat prime.” Thus, “Future research incorporating a non-threat control condition will be essential to ascertain whether down-regulation of the pMFC reduces…avowed religious belief, in the absence of a background threat.”
History teaches that investment in cherished group and religious values can bring forth acts of both heroic valor and horrific injustice. Understanding the psychological and biological determinants of increases in ideological commitment may ultimately help us to identify the situational triggers of, and individuals most susceptible to, this phenomenon, and thereby gain some leverage over the zealous acts that follow. The present findings suggest that the pMFC integrates processing distributed across interconnected brain regions to augment adherence to high-level ideals upon detection of relevant conflicts…
The results provide evidence that relatively abstract personal and social attitudes are susceptible to targeted neuromodulation, opening the way for researchers to not only describe the biological mechanisms undergirding high-level attitudes and beliefs, but to establish causality via experimental intervention.
Note how honest they are about the goal. It is about “gain some leverage over” people whom someone will decide are “the zealous” to take actions which someone with power and authority determines to be antisocial, etc. This is truly aiming at mind control.
Lastly, as an FYI so that you know who is seeking mind control technologies, the funding for this research (those who may keep funding such research) are: An UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute grant to D.M.T.F, M.I., C.H., and K.I. (UL1TR000124). The Brain Mapping Medical Research Organization. Brain Mapping Support Foundation. Pierson-Lovelace Foundation. The Ahmanson Foundation. William M. and Linda R. Dietel Philanthropic Fund at the Northern Piedmont Community Foundation. Tamkin Foundation. Jennifer Jones-Simon Foundation. Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation.
Robson Family and Northstar Fund.