Adaptive Intelligence: Christian Healing Expectation and Within-Person Neural Change in Parkinson’s Disease
This proposed 18-month project would use intensive longitudinal neuroimaging to examine neural changes occurring alongside the deliberate cultivation of Christian healing expectation in people with Parkinson’s disease.
Project summary
Four participants would complete repeated multimodal imaging visits during a 12-week observation period. Imaging would include diffusion tensor imaging, structural MRI, and task-based functional MRI during scriptural prayer. The project is designed as an exploratory precision-mapping study focused on within-person neural dynamics rather than population-level causal inference.
Collaboration
This proposed study is being developed by The Religious Cognition Collaborative with a collaborating investigator at Yale School of Medicine. Institutional arrangements, including site, imaging, and ethical oversight agreements, would be established prior to implementation.
Research question
How do brain function, structural connectivity, and corticostriatal pathways change over time as participants cultivate a sustained expectation of healing through Christian faith practice and scriptural prayer?
Proposed methods
Longitudinal precision mapping, diffusion tensor imaging, structural MRI, task-based functional MRI, connectome analysis, and corticostriatal tractography.
Proposed outputs
The project would produce participant-level functional and structural connectome data, longitudinal corticostriatal tractography maps, analysis materials, and scholarly publications. Public release would remain subject to participant consent and applicable privacy and data-sharing requirements.
Interested in this work?
Write to contact@religiouscognitioncollab.org or propose a collaboration.