Features associated with speaking in tongues (glossolalia)

Enhanced Verbal Statistical Learning in Glossolalia

Glossolalia ("speaking in tongues") is a rhythmic utterance of word-like strings of sounds, regularly occurring in religious mass gatherings or various forms of private religious practices (e.g., prayer and meditation). Although specific verbal learning capacities may characterize glossolalists, empirical evidence is lacking. We administered three statistical learning tasks (artificial grammar, phoneme sequence, and visual-response sequence) to 30 glossolalists and 30 matched control volunteers. In artificial grammar, participants decide whether pseudowords and sentences follow previously acquired implicit rules or not. In sequence learning, they gradually draw out rules from repeating regularities in sequences of speech sounds or motor responses. Results revealed enhanced artificial grammar and phoneme sequence learning performances in glossolalists compared to control volunteers. There were significant positive correlations between daily glossolalia activity and artificial grammar learning. These results indicate that glossolalists exhibit enhanced abilities to extract the statistical regularities of verbal information, which may be related to their unusual language abilities.

Attribution of Mental States in Glossolalia: A Direct Comparison With Schizophrenia

Glossolalia (“speaking in tongues”) is a rhythmic utterance of pseudo-words without consistent semantic meaning and syntactic regularities. Although glossolalia is a culturally embedded religious activity, its connection with psychopathology (e.g., psychotic thought disorder and altered mental state attribution/mentalization) is still a matter of debate. To elucidate this issue, we investigated 32 glossolalists, 32 matched control participants, and 32 patients with schizophrenia using the Animated Triangle Test (ATT) and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). The ATT can detect hypo- and hypermentalization using animations of two moving triangles. Healthy adults describe these as random movements (e.g., bouncing), willed actions (e.g., playing), or they mentalize (e.g., tricking). We found that glossolalists provided more mentalizing descriptions in the ATT random and intentional movement animations relative to the control participants. They also recognized more mental states in the RMET than the controls. None of them had a diagnosis of mental disorders. In contrast, patients with schizophrenia hypermentalized only in the ATT random movement condition, whereas they showed hypomentalization in the ATT intentional movement condition and in the RMET relative the control subjects. Hypermentalization in the ATT positively correlated with intrinsic religiosity in the glossolalia group. In conclusion, our results demonstrated a substantial difference in the mentalizing ability of glossolalists (generalized hypermentalization) and patients with schizophrenia (both hypo- and hypermentalization).

Contributions of Neuropsychology to the Study of Ancient Literature

The present work introduces the neuropsychological paradigm as a new approach to studying ancient literature. In the first part of the article, an epistemological framework for the proper use of neuropsychology in relation to ancient literature is presented. The article then discusses neuropsychological methods of studying different human experiences and dimensions already addressed by ancient literatures. The experiences of human encounters with gods among ancient cultures are first considered, through the contributions of Julian Jaynes and Eric R. Dodds. The concepts of right and left in the Bible, and that of soul are then discussed. Ecstatic experience in Paul of Tarsus is also presented, with a particular focus on glossolalia. Neuroscientific differences between mindful and unitive meditative practices are then described referring to ancient Buddhist literature, and finally a brief description of dreams in ancient Greek literature is proposed. Neuropsychology variously enables a more profound understanding of themes characterizing human experiences that ancient literature has already explored; these investigations prove that the collaboration of neuroscience and humanistic studies can return fruitful and interesting results.

Non-Neurogenic Language Disorders: A Preliminary Classification

BACKGROUND

Few publications deal with non-neurogenic language disorders (NNLDs), distinct from psychogenic speech disorders such as psychogenic dysphonia or stuttering. NNLDs are alterations in language owing to psychosomatic preoccupations, conversion disorder, psychiatric disorders, or other psychological reasons.

OBJECTIVE

To identify and classify the range of NNLDs and their characteristics.

METHODS

This review summarizes the literature on disturbances in language, broadly defined as the use of symbols for communication, which may have a psychogenic or psychiatric etiology.

RESULTS

The literature suggests a classification for NNLDs that includes psychogenic aphasia with dysgrammatism; psychogenic "lalias" including oxylalia and agitolalia, palilalia and echolalia, xenolalia, glossolalia, and coprolalia; psychologically-mediated word usage; psychotic language; and psychogenic forms of the foreign accent syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinicians and researchers have insufficiently emphasized the presence of NNLDs, their characteristics, and their identification. Yet, these disorders may be the first or predominant manifestation of a psychologically-mediated illness. There are 2 steps to recognition. The first is to know how to distinguish NNLDs from the manifestations of neurogenic language impairments after a neurological evaluation. The second step is awareness of specific associated and examination features that suggest the presence of a NNLD.

Temporal lobe discharges and glossolalia

Glossolalia (speaking in tongues) is a religious phenomenon of which there has been only limited scientific investigation. Described here is the case of a 44-year-old woman who had clonic jerking of the left forearm while speaking in tongues. Waking EEG while she was thinking of nothing in particular was normal. After several minutes of silently praying in tongues she manifested right temporal sharp wave discharges and may have been in a state resembling light sleep. Possible relationships between glossolalia, ecstatic religious phenomena, and temporal lobe electrical discharges are discussed.

Salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol among pentecostals on a worship and nonworship day

OBJECTIVES

This investigation used a biomarker of sympathetic nervous system activity novel to biocultural research to test the hypothesis that engaging in religious worship activities would reduce baseline stress levels on a non-worship day among Pentecostals.

METHODS

As detailed in Lynn et al. (submitted for publication), stress was measured via salivary cortisol and α-amylase among 52 Apostolic Pentecostals in New York's mid-Hudson Valley. Saliva samples were collected at four predetermined times on consecutive Sundays and Mondays to establish diurnal profiles and compare days of worship and non-worship. These data were reanalyzed using separate analyses of covariance on α-amylase and cortisol to control for individual variation in Pentecostal behavior, effects of Sunday biomarkers on Monday, and other covariates.

RESULTS

There was a significant decrease in cortisol and an increase in α-amylase on a non-worship day compared with a service day. Models including engagement in Pentecostal worship behavior explained 62% of the change in non-service day cortisol and 73% of the change in non-service day α-amylase.

CONCLUSIONS

Engagement in Pentecostal worship may be associated with reductions in circulatory cortisol and enhancements in α-amylase activity.

Judeo-Christian religious experience and psychopathology: the legacy of William James

This article examines the relationship between Judeo-Christian religious experience and psychopathology. It builds on William James's Varieties of Religious Experience and more specifically his discussions of self, agency and the subliminal. Contemporary research on Christian conversion, mysticism, and its relationship to psychosis and mental health and healing are discussed. Future themes for research are proposed.

The measurement of regional cerebral blood flow during glossolalia: a preliminary SPECT study

Glossolalia (or "speaking in tongues") is an unusual mental state that has great personal and religious meaning. Glossolalia is experienced as a normal and expected behavior in religious prayer groups in which the individual appears to be speaking in an incomprehensible language. This is the first functional neuroimaging study to demonstrate changes in cerebral activity during glossolalia. The frontal lobes, parietal lobes, and left caudate were most affected.