An initial fMRI study on neural correlates of prayer in members of Alcoholics Anonymous

Figures & data

Table 1. Relationship of subject characteristics to self-reported craving in the prayer condition during fMRI scan (n = 18).

	N (%) or mean (SD, range)	Statistic
Demographics/prior treatment
Age	52.39 (13.75, 23–82)	r = −.520, p < .05
Male	10 (55.60%)	NS
Employed	14 (77.80%)	NS
Problem with alcohol and drugs	11 (61.1%)	NS
Prior substance treatment	7 (38.9%)	NS
No. of years since last used alcohol or drugs per self-report	14.41 (11.19)	r = −.506, p < .05
Involvement in AA
No. of years since first attended AA	19.44 (10.99)	NS
No. of years since spiritual awakening	16.72 (10.74)	r = −.474, p < .05
No. of AA meetings attended in past 12 months	214.33 (146.20)	NS
Now has a sponsor	16 (88.9%)	Insufficient variability
Has sponsored others	15 (83%)	Insufficient variability
Acceptance of 12-Step beliefs	37.22 (3.04)	r = −.465, trend p < .06
Spirituality/Religiosity
Feel God’s presence at least most days	13 (72.2%)	NS
Attend church at least monthly	8 (44.4%)	NS
Pray on a daily basis	13 (72.2%)	NS
Social Affiliation
AA members	35.71 (3.70)	NS
Non-AA members	30.06 (5.25)	NS

Table 2. Regions of interest (ROI) activations for prayer > other. All coordinates are in MNI space.

Condition and ROI	1/r^1	BA^2	x^3	y^3	z^3	k^4	Peak voxel^5
(A) Images: Prayer > (Passive + News)^6
Middle frontal gyrus	1	10	−39	54	9	186	6.56
Middle temporal gyrus	1	39	−57	−48	6	132	7.23
Middle temporal gyrus	r	39	42	−72	30	130	6.5
Bilateral precuneus	1	7	−3	−48	45	118	5.5
Superior parietal lobule	1	7	−15	−57	63	114	5.71
(B) Instruction: Prayer > (Passive + News)^7
Bilateral lingual gyrus	r	18	3	−75	3	107*	5.86
Intra-parietal sulcus	r	7	30	−69	48	309	4.27

¹ 1/r - left/right location of the peak voxel.

² BA- Brodmann areas covered by the entire cluster.

³ x,y,z- MNI coordinates of the peak voxel.

⁴ k- cluster size in voxels.

⁵ Peak voxel – maximum t-test value at the peak voxel.

⁶ (A) Brain areas with increased or decreased activation for Prayer compared to (Passive + News conditions) during alcohol related images.

⁷ (B) Brain areas with increased or decreased activation for Prayer compared to (Passive + News conditions) during reading of instructions.

* Marginally significant.

Whole brain FWE corrected.

Figure 1. Brain areas activated for main contrast (prayer > passive + news). The left-anterior middle frontal gyrus (l-MFG; BA 10), left-superior parietal lobule (l-SPL; BA 7), bilateral precuneus (BA 7), and bilateral posterior middle temporal gyrus (MTG, BA 39). Two-tail t-test (df 17) = 2.56, FWE alphasim p < 0.05 corrected, k = 104. The brain is displayed in neurological convention (right = right).

Figure 2. General linear model (GLM) beta plots for the main contrast regions of interest (ROIs). See Table 2 for details. Green – Passive; Red – News; Blue – Prayer. x-axis: conditions, y-axis: percent BOLD signal change. The left-anterior middle frontal gyrus (l-MFG; BA 10), left-superior parietal lobule (l-SPL; BA 7), left- and right-posterior middle temporal gyrus (l/r-MTG, BA 39), and bilateral precuneus (BA 7).