Neuropsychological Changes Across Life Stages and Their Impact on Spirituality
Article Sidebar
Published
Feb 28, 2024
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Submit your own article
Register as an author to reserve your spot in the next issue of the Medical Research Archives.
Author RegistrationJoin the Society
The European Society of Medicine is more than a professional association. We are a community. Our members work in countries across the globe, yet are united by a common goal: to promote health and health equity, around the world.
Join Europe’s leading medical society and discover the many advantages of membership, including free article publication.
MembershipMain Article Content
Abstract
This study examines neuropsychological changes across life stages and their impact on spirituality. Focusing on infancy to old age, it explores how the brain’s evolution influences spiritual perception and experiences. Key findings include the foundational role of early brain development in shaping basic spiritual awareness and the significant transformation during adolescence and early adulthood, marked by deep questioning and exploration of spiritual identity. The research highlights that peak spiritual experiences and brain complexity may coincide around age 18, suggesting a crucial period for spiritual exploration. In contrast, older adulthood, despite potential cognitive decline, often leads to a deepening of spiritual life, characterized by reflection and wisdom. The study underscores the interconnectedness of neuropsychological development and spirituality, emphasizing the importance of considering spiritual well-being alongside physical and mental health. It concludes that spirituality is a vital, evolving aspect of the human experience, closely linked to neuropsychological changes throughout life.
Article Details
How to Cite
SACCO, Robert G..
Neuropsychological Changes Across Life Stages and Their Impact on Spirituality.
Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 12, n. 2, feb. 2024.
ISSN 2375-1924.
Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/5011>. Date accessed: 21 nov. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v12i2.5011.
Section
Research Articles
The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.
References
1. Jastrzebski A. Neuropsychology of Spiritual States. Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion; 2020:1594-1596.
2. Hill PC, et al. Conceptualizing Religion and Spirituality: Points of Commonality, Points of Departure. J Theory Soc Behav. 2000;30(1): 51-77.
3. Newberg AB, Iversen J. The neural basis of the complex mental task of meditation: Neurotransmitter and neurochemical considerations. Med Hypotheses. 2003;61(2): 282-291.
4. Urgesi C, Aglioti SM, Skrap M, Fabbro F. The spiritual brain: Selective cortical lesions modulate human self-transcendence. Neuropsychologia. 2008;48(2):215-226.
5. Fowler JW. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning. Harper & Row; 1981.
6. McFadden SH. Religion and well-being in aging persons in an aging society. J Soc Issues. 1996;52(2):161-175.
7. Piaget J. The Origins of Intelligence in Children. International Universities Press; 1952.
8. Erikson EH. The life cycle completed. Norton & Co; 1982.
9. Sacco RG, Torday JS. Systems biology of human aging: A Fibonacci time series model. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2023;177:24-33.
10. Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG. Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects. 9th Edition. Saunders; 2018.
11. Kolb B, Gibb R. Brain plasticity and behaviour in the developing brain. J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2011;20(4):265.
12. Johnson MH. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing; 2005.
13. Kohlberg L. The Philosophy of Moral Development: Moral Stages and the Idea of Justice. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row; 1981.
14. Casey BJ. Beyond simple models of self-control to circuit-based accounts of adolescent behavior. Annu Rev Psychol. 2015;66(1):295-319.
15. Giedd JN, et al. Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. Nat Neurosci. 1999;2(10):861-863.
16. Park CL. Religion as a meaning-making framework in coping with life stress. J Soc Issues. 2005;61(4):707-729.
17. Monahan K. A review of the literature concerning the end of life and spirituality. Br J Nurs. 2009;18(14):888-894.
18. Lagercrantz H, Changeux JP. The Emergence of Human Consciousness: From Fetal to Neonatal Life. Pediatr Res. 2009;65 (3):255-260.
19. Lenroot RK, Giedd JN. Brain development in children and adolescents: Insights from anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2006;30(6): 718-729.
20. Tau GZ, Peterson BS. Normal development of brain circuits. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010;35(1):147-168.
21. Fields RD. White matter in learning, cognition and psychiatric disorders. Trends Neurosci. 2008;31(7):361-370.
22. Bowlby J. Attachment and Loss, Vol. 1: Attachment. Basic Books; 1969.
23. Granqvist P, Kirkpatrick LA. Religion, spirituality, and attachment. APA Handbook of Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality (Vol 1): Context, Theory, and Research; 2013:139-155.
24. Schore AN. Effects of a secure attachment relationship on right brain development, affect regulation, and infant mental health. Infant Ment Health J. 2001;22(1-2):7-66.
25. Nye R. Children’s spirituality: What it is and why it matters. Church House Publishing; 1998.
26. Thompson RA, Nelson CA. Developmental science and the media: Early brain development. Am Psychol. 2001;56(1):5-15.
27. Piaget J. Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. Norton; 1962.
28. Hoff E. How social contexts support and shape language development. Dev Rev. 2006;26(1):55-88.
29. Zahn-Waxler C, Radke-Yarrow M. The origins of empathic concern. Motiv Emot. 1990;14(2):107-130.
30. Lewis M, Brooks-Gunn J. Social cognition and the acquisition of self. Plenum Press; 1979.
31. Kostelnik MJ, Soderman AK, Whiren AP, Rupiper ML. Guiding children’s social development and learning: Theory and skills. Cengage Learning; 2015.
32. Vygotsky LS. Play and its role in the mental development of the child. Soviet Psychology. 1967;5(3):6-18.
33. Taylor M. Imaginary companions and the children who create them. Oxford University Press; 1999.
34. Dahl A, Killen M. A developmental perspective on the origins of morality in infancy and early childhood. Front Psychol. 2018;9: 1736.
35. Richert RA, Granqvist P. Religious and spiritual development in childhood. In: The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 2: Self and Other. Oxford University Press; 2013.
36. Inhelder B, Piaget J. The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence. Basic Books; 1958.
37. King PE, Boyatzis CJ. Exploring adolescent spiritual and religious development: Current and future theoretical and empirical perspectives. Appl Dev Sci. 2004;8(1):2-6.
38. Blakemore SJ, Choudhury S. Development of the adolescent brain: Implications for executive function and social cognition. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47(3-4):296-312.
39. Becht AI, Bos MG, Nelemans SA, Peters S, Vollebergh WA, Branje SJ, Meeus WH, Crone EA. Goal-directed correlates and neurobiological underpinnings of adolescent identity: A multimethod multisample longitudinal approach. Child Dev. 2018;89(3):823-836.
40. Steinberg L. Cognitive and affective development in adolescence. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005;9(2):69-74.
41. Ahmed SP, Bittencourt-Hewitt A, Sebastian CL. Neurocognitive bases of emotion regulation development in adolescence. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2015;15:11-25.
42. Desmond SA, Morgan KH, Kikuchi G. Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: Associations, explanations, and implications. Psychol Bull. 2010;136(1):69-93.
43. Good M, Willoughby T. Adolescence as a sensitive period for spiritual development. Child Dev Perspect. 2008;2(1):32-37.
44. Braams BR, van Duijvenvoorde AC, Peper JS, Crone EA. Longitudinal changes in adolescent risk-taking: A comprehensive study of neural responses to rewards, pubertal development, and risk-taking behavior. J Neurosci. 2015;35(18):7226-7238.
45. Sandu AL, Izard E, Specht K, Beneventi H, Lundervold A, Ystad M. Post-adolescent developmental changes in cortical complexity. Behav Brain Funct. 2014;10:1-9.
46. Arnett JJ. Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. Am Psychol. 2000;55(5):469-480.
47. Pfeifer JH, Allen NB. Arrested development? Reconsidering dual-systems models of brain function in adolescence and disorders. Trends Cogn Sci. 2012;16(6):322-329.
48. Aoki I. Entropy production in human life span: A thermodynamical measure for aging. AGE. 1994;17:29-31. doi:10.1007/bf02435047
49. Sacco RG. Spiritual experiences across the lifespan: Empirical support for the Fibonacci life chart method and the entropic brain hypothesis. Ment Health Relig Cult. 2024.
50. Carhart-Harris RL, Leech R, Hellyer PJ, Shanahan M, Feilding A, Tagliazucchi E, Nutt D. The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs. Front Hum Neurosci. 2014;8:20. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00020
51. Arnett JJ, Jensen LA. A congregation of one: Individualized religious beliefs among emerging adults. J Adolesc Res. 2002;17(5): 451-467.
52. Barry CM, Abo-Zena MM. Emerging adults’ religiousness and spirituality: Meaning-making in an age of transition. Oxford University Press; 2014.
53. Salthouse TA. When does age-related cognitive decline begin? Neurobiol Aging. 2009;30(4):507-514.
54. Park DC, Reuter-Lorenz PA. The adaptive brain: Aging and neurocognitive scaffolding. Annu Rev Psychol. 2009;60:173-196.
55. Stern Y. Cognitive reserve. Neuropsychologia. 2009;47(10):2015-2028.
56. Wink P, Dillon M. Spiritual development across the adult life course: Findings from a longitudinal study. J Adult Dev. 2002;9(1):79-94.
57. McAdams DP. The psychology of life stories. Rev Gen Psychol. 2001;5(2):100-122.
58. Harada CN, Natelson Love MC, Triebel KL. Normal cognitive aging. Clin Geriatr Med. 2013;29(4):737-752.
59. Raz N, Ghisletta P, Rodrigue KM, Kennedy KM, Lindenberger U. Trajectories of brain aging in middle-aged and older adults: regional and individual differences. NeuroImage. 2010;51(2):501-511.
60. Tornstam L. Gerotranscendence: A developmental theory of positive aging. Springer Publishing Company; 2005.
61. Alzheimer’s Association. 2020 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures. Alzheimers Dement. 2020;16(3):391-460.
62. Hertzog C, Kramer AF, Wilson RS, Lindenberger U. Enrichment effects on adult cognitive development. Psychol Sci Public Interest. 2008;9(1):1-65.
63. Koenig HG. Research on religion, spirituality, and mental health: A review. Can J Psychiatry. 2009;54(5):283-291.
64. Siegel DJ. The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. Guilford Press; 1999.
2. Hill PC, et al. Conceptualizing Religion and Spirituality: Points of Commonality, Points of Departure. J Theory Soc Behav. 2000;30(1): 51-77.
3. Newberg AB, Iversen J. The neural basis of the complex mental task of meditation: Neurotransmitter and neurochemical considerations. Med Hypotheses. 2003;61(2): 282-291.
4. Urgesi C, Aglioti SM, Skrap M, Fabbro F. The spiritual brain: Selective cortical lesions modulate human self-transcendence. Neuropsychologia. 2008;48(2):215-226.
5. Fowler JW. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning. Harper & Row; 1981.
6. McFadden SH. Religion and well-being in aging persons in an aging society. J Soc Issues. 1996;52(2):161-175.
7. Piaget J. The Origins of Intelligence in Children. International Universities Press; 1952.
8. Erikson EH. The life cycle completed. Norton & Co; 1982.
9. Sacco RG, Torday JS. Systems biology of human aging: A Fibonacci time series model. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2023;177:24-33.
10. Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG. Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects. 9th Edition. Saunders; 2018.
11. Kolb B, Gibb R. Brain plasticity and behaviour in the developing brain. J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2011;20(4):265.
12. Johnson MH. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing; 2005.
13. Kohlberg L. The Philosophy of Moral Development: Moral Stages and the Idea of Justice. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row; 1981.
14. Casey BJ. Beyond simple models of self-control to circuit-based accounts of adolescent behavior. Annu Rev Psychol. 2015;66(1):295-319.
15. Giedd JN, et al. Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. Nat Neurosci. 1999;2(10):861-863.
16. Park CL. Religion as a meaning-making framework in coping with life stress. J Soc Issues. 2005;61(4):707-729.
17. Monahan K. A review of the literature concerning the end of life and spirituality. Br J Nurs. 2009;18(14):888-894.
18. Lagercrantz H, Changeux JP. The Emergence of Human Consciousness: From Fetal to Neonatal Life. Pediatr Res. 2009;65 (3):255-260.
19. Lenroot RK, Giedd JN. Brain development in children and adolescents: Insights from anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2006;30(6): 718-729.
20. Tau GZ, Peterson BS. Normal development of brain circuits. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010;35(1):147-168.
21. Fields RD. White matter in learning, cognition and psychiatric disorders. Trends Neurosci. 2008;31(7):361-370.
22. Bowlby J. Attachment and Loss, Vol. 1: Attachment. Basic Books; 1969.
23. Granqvist P, Kirkpatrick LA. Religion, spirituality, and attachment. APA Handbook of Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality (Vol 1): Context, Theory, and Research; 2013:139-155.
24. Schore AN. Effects of a secure attachment relationship on right brain development, affect regulation, and infant mental health. Infant Ment Health J. 2001;22(1-2):7-66.
25. Nye R. Children’s spirituality: What it is and why it matters. Church House Publishing; 1998.
26. Thompson RA, Nelson CA. Developmental science and the media: Early brain development. Am Psychol. 2001;56(1):5-15.
27. Piaget J. Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. Norton; 1962.
28. Hoff E. How social contexts support and shape language development. Dev Rev. 2006;26(1):55-88.
29. Zahn-Waxler C, Radke-Yarrow M. The origins of empathic concern. Motiv Emot. 1990;14(2):107-130.
30. Lewis M, Brooks-Gunn J. Social cognition and the acquisition of self. Plenum Press; 1979.
31. Kostelnik MJ, Soderman AK, Whiren AP, Rupiper ML. Guiding children’s social development and learning: Theory and skills. Cengage Learning; 2015.
32. Vygotsky LS. Play and its role in the mental development of the child. Soviet Psychology. 1967;5(3):6-18.
33. Taylor M. Imaginary companions and the children who create them. Oxford University Press; 1999.
34. Dahl A, Killen M. A developmental perspective on the origins of morality in infancy and early childhood. Front Psychol. 2018;9: 1736.
35. Richert RA, Granqvist P. Religious and spiritual development in childhood. In: The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 2: Self and Other. Oxford University Press; 2013.
36. Inhelder B, Piaget J. The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence. Basic Books; 1958.
37. King PE, Boyatzis CJ. Exploring adolescent spiritual and religious development: Current and future theoretical and empirical perspectives. Appl Dev Sci. 2004;8(1):2-6.
38. Blakemore SJ, Choudhury S. Development of the adolescent brain: Implications for executive function and social cognition. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47(3-4):296-312.
39. Becht AI, Bos MG, Nelemans SA, Peters S, Vollebergh WA, Branje SJ, Meeus WH, Crone EA. Goal-directed correlates and neurobiological underpinnings of adolescent identity: A multimethod multisample longitudinal approach. Child Dev. 2018;89(3):823-836.
40. Steinberg L. Cognitive and affective development in adolescence. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005;9(2):69-74.
41. Ahmed SP, Bittencourt-Hewitt A, Sebastian CL. Neurocognitive bases of emotion regulation development in adolescence. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2015;15:11-25.
42. Desmond SA, Morgan KH, Kikuchi G. Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: Associations, explanations, and implications. Psychol Bull. 2010;136(1):69-93.
43. Good M, Willoughby T. Adolescence as a sensitive period for spiritual development. Child Dev Perspect. 2008;2(1):32-37.
44. Braams BR, van Duijvenvoorde AC, Peper JS, Crone EA. Longitudinal changes in adolescent risk-taking: A comprehensive study of neural responses to rewards, pubertal development, and risk-taking behavior. J Neurosci. 2015;35(18):7226-7238.
45. Sandu AL, Izard E, Specht K, Beneventi H, Lundervold A, Ystad M. Post-adolescent developmental changes in cortical complexity. Behav Brain Funct. 2014;10:1-9.
46. Arnett JJ. Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. Am Psychol. 2000;55(5):469-480.
47. Pfeifer JH, Allen NB. Arrested development? Reconsidering dual-systems models of brain function in adolescence and disorders. Trends Cogn Sci. 2012;16(6):322-329.
48. Aoki I. Entropy production in human life span: A thermodynamical measure for aging. AGE. 1994;17:29-31. doi:10.1007/bf02435047
49. Sacco RG. Spiritual experiences across the lifespan: Empirical support for the Fibonacci life chart method and the entropic brain hypothesis. Ment Health Relig Cult. 2024.
50. Carhart-Harris RL, Leech R, Hellyer PJ, Shanahan M, Feilding A, Tagliazucchi E, Nutt D. The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs. Front Hum Neurosci. 2014;8:20. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00020
51. Arnett JJ, Jensen LA. A congregation of one: Individualized religious beliefs among emerging adults. J Adolesc Res. 2002;17(5): 451-467.
52. Barry CM, Abo-Zena MM. Emerging adults’ religiousness and spirituality: Meaning-making in an age of transition. Oxford University Press; 2014.
53. Salthouse TA. When does age-related cognitive decline begin? Neurobiol Aging. 2009;30(4):507-514.
54. Park DC, Reuter-Lorenz PA. The adaptive brain: Aging and neurocognitive scaffolding. Annu Rev Psychol. 2009;60:173-196.
55. Stern Y. Cognitive reserve. Neuropsychologia. 2009;47(10):2015-2028.
56. Wink P, Dillon M. Spiritual development across the adult life course: Findings from a longitudinal study. J Adult Dev. 2002;9(1):79-94.
57. McAdams DP. The psychology of life stories. Rev Gen Psychol. 2001;5(2):100-122.
58. Harada CN, Natelson Love MC, Triebel KL. Normal cognitive aging. Clin Geriatr Med. 2013;29(4):737-752.
59. Raz N, Ghisletta P, Rodrigue KM, Kennedy KM, Lindenberger U. Trajectories of brain aging in middle-aged and older adults: regional and individual differences. NeuroImage. 2010;51(2):501-511.
60. Tornstam L. Gerotranscendence: A developmental theory of positive aging. Springer Publishing Company; 2005.
61. Alzheimer’s Association. 2020 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures. Alzheimers Dement. 2020;16(3):391-460.
62. Hertzog C, Kramer AF, Wilson RS, Lindenberger U. Enrichment effects on adult cognitive development. Psychol Sci Public Interest. 2008;9(1):1-65.
63. Koenig HG. Research on religion, spirituality, and mental health: A review. Can J Psychiatry. 2009;54(5):283-291.
64. Siegel DJ. The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. Guilford Press; 1999.