Prefrontal Cortical Activation During Emotion Regulation: Linking Religious/Spiritual Practices With Well-Being

In this chapter, we provide cross-sectional evidence for a simple framework suggesting that religious/spiritual (R/S) practices confer higher levels of well-being because they train relevant psychological functions. Consistent with this framework, higher reported levels of meditation practice were associated with higher levels of prefrontal cortical (PFC) activation when regulating pleasant emotions. Higher levels of PFC activation were, in turn, associated with higher levels of reported positive affect in daily life. Such findings are consistent with the idea that at least one R/S practice, meditation, confers higher well-being because this practice trains at least one relevant psychological function, namely emotion regulation.