Scientists to test power of faith

Katherine Haddon

Researchers at the Oxford Centre for Science of the Mind (OXCSOM) will use imaging technology to study the brain in uncomfortable situations to discover why some people are better at coping than others.

It is hoped that those with strong religious faith as well as crystal and faith healers and atheists will volunteer for the experiments into the effect of belief systems on the human mind.

One of the most remarkable tests will use brain scanning to examine whether people can be distracted from pain by looking at a picture of a crucifix or the Virgin Mary.

Scientists will make volunteers feel a painful burning sensation by applying a chilli gel to their skin or by putting a small box which heats up to temperatures of 60 degrees centigrade on the back of their hands.

They will then study what happens to the brain when they show them a religious image or get them to perform a mental task such as saying a list of numbers backwards.

The centre's deputy director, Dr Toby Collins, stressed that such experiments were only part of the research being conducted by academics from six

departments anatomy, pharmacology, philosophy, physiology, theology and practical ethics.

"Although it seems a bit crass, we have got to design experiments which allow us to tap into people's different beliefs," he said.

"I wouldn't like to say that religious belief is just a distraction from daily life so we have got to be careful not to trivialise it.

Researchers at the centre will be looking at the scientific causes of the strength of character exhibited by some survivors of disasters such as the Asian tsunami.