Study finds link between brain damage and fundamentalism

[drfuzzy]

Yes. "A new study in the journal Neuropsychologia found that lesions in a particular brain region tend to increase religious fundamentalism."  Vietnam vets who had lesions in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex had more instances of religious fundamentalism.
http://www.psypost.org/2017/05/study-unc...lism-48860

Now, they admit straight away that the study is limited.  (Well, most good ones are, of course.  Too many variables creates havoc.)  I haven't been able to access the actual study, but the three reports that I have read do not indicate whether any research was done on the family history of the injured veterans.  They had to be of the baby-boomer generation, when a greater percentage of Americans were raised in (christian) religious households.  Were they all from the same area of the country?  (Coastal vs. deep south would be interesting.)  I could ask a lot of questions, and we well know that early indoctrination, lack of advanced education, geography, group-think, and fear of death all play into fundamentalism.  

But it's an interesting read.  The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain that houses openness, curiosity, and flexibility in our belief systems.  Damage it, and apparently you hold on more strongly to your beliefs and react with aggression (and fear) when anyone challenges those beliefs.