Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion

A research centre dedicated to experimental research on religion.

Laboratory research profile

LEVYNA is an interdisciplinary centre affiliated with the Department for the Study of Religions, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University. It is the only institution in the world exclusively dedicated to the experimental study of religion. Combining methods and expertise from the Humanities and the Sciences, LEVYNA brings together researchers with backgrounds as diverse as Religious Studies, Anthropology, History, Psychology, and Neuroscience, who work collaboratively to investigate religious belief and behaviour. It aims to train young scholars in employing scientific methods in the study of religion, and to produce high quality research on religion through cross-disciplinary collaboration, methodological integration and innovation.

13 Aug

Pain and suffering as part of religious life: The Mauritian Thaipusam kavadi

In a pop-science article published in Dingir, E. Kundtová Klocová discusses the various socio-cultural aspects of the Thaipusam Kavadi ritual as practiced in Mauritius.

2 Aug

Jana Nenadalová defended her dissertation thesis

Religious experiences can be found across many cultures in various forms. Nevertheless, we can trace their underlying and potentially universal factors. In her thesis, Jana asks whether these factors include sensory deprivation, social seclusion, and the influence of authority. She further explores how these factors manifest in the context of experience. Her research is based on the predictive processing theory, assuming that our bodies and minds constantly predict ongoing events and that under the influence of studied factors, these predictions – including those learned from religion – can dominate over sensory perceptions.

2 Aug

Emotional contagion in a collective ritual – a study by LEVYNA & colleagues

In a field-study conducted among Hindu-Mauritians published in the American Journal of Human Biology, D. Xygalatas, M. Lang, P. Maňo, J. Krátký and R. Fischer discovered that individuals dynamically attune their affective states to one another in a collective religious ritual, implying that they adjust their emotional states to align with the group.

Research Lines

Anxiety and ritualized behavior

Why students rub their lucky charms before they sit for exams and athletes insist on wearing their lucky socks for months?

Religion and intragroup cooperation

Are people nicer in church compared to bar? Do we behave differently in the presence of religious statues?

Religion and signaling theory

Why religious rituals involve self-harming and dangerous behavior such as subincision, scarring, and other bodily mutilations?

Intuitions, beliefs, moral models, and human evolution

Do internal representations of morality predict moral behavior? Does cross-cultural variance beat every moral universality?

Evolutionary phylogeny of religions

What are the patterns and macro-evolutionary processes in the history of religious systems?

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Are you interested in studying or working at the LEVYNA Research Centre?

Research

Speaker Series

LEVYNA organizes an in-person speaker series in Brno, Czech Republic. Our speakers usually come for two or three days to chat with us, give a public talk on the topic of their interest and lead a workshop on a specific skill they developed for their research. We like to host speakers from various disciplines and with various skills to broaden our horizons.

LEVYNA Speaker Series

Interviews

Radek Kundt in Hergot on Radio Wave. "Žmoulejte si svůj talisman, radí výzkumník z Brna".

Jana Nenadalová's interview in a podcast Antropodcast, "Jsme nejateističtější zemí v Evropě?"

Martin Lang in an interview (CZ) "Proč je pro společnost důležitá soudržnost? Snadněji čelí vnějším hrozbám" (Why is cohesion important for the society? It helps to confront external threats) on a recently published study.

More Interviews Podcasts

Latest Publications

Year of publication

2024

Adverse Effects of Meditation : Autonomic Nervous System Activation and Individual Nauseous Responses During Samadhi Meditation in the Czech Republic

KOTHEROVÁ Silvie CIGÁN Jakub ŠTĚPÁNKOVÁ Lenka VYSKOČILOVÁ Mária LITTNEROVÁ Simona EJOVA Anastasia SEPŠI Milan

Article in Periodical

Journal of Religion and Health, year: 2024, volume: neuveden, edition: neuveden, DOI
Contest and resource allocation: An experimental analysis of entitlement and self-selection effects

ČELLÁROVÁ Katarína STANĚK Rostislav

Article in Periodical

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, year: 2024, volume: 82, edition: March, DOI
Did Descriptive and Prescriptive Norms About Gender Equality at Home Change During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Cross-National Investigation.

SAXLER F M DORROUGH A R FROEHLICH L BLOCK K CROFT A MEEUSSEN L OLSSON M SCHMADER T SCHUSTER C S Van Grootel C Van Laar ATKINSON C BENSON-GREENWALD T BIRNEANU A KURINCOVÁ ČAVOJOVÁ Vladimíra CHERYAN S A Lee Kai Chung DANYLIUK I DAR-NIMROD I MARTINY S E KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ Eva

Article in Periodical

PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN, year: 2024
Emotional contagion in a collective ritual

XYGALATAS Dimitrios LANG Martin MAŇO Peter KRÁTKÝ Jan FISCHER Ronald

Article in Periodical

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, year: 2024, volume: NA, edition: NA, DOI
Exploring the impact of intensified multiple session tDCS over the left DLPFC on brain function in MCI: a randomized control trial.

ŠIMKO Patrik PUPÍKOVÁ Monika GAJDOŠ Martin KLOBUŠIAKOVÁ Patrícia VÁVRA Václav ŠIMO Adam REKTOROVÁ Irena

Article in Periodical

Scientific Reports, year: 2024, volume: 14, edition: 1, DOI
Physiology-Inspired Bifocal Fronto-Parietal tACS for Working Memory Enhancement.

PUPÍKOVÁ Monika MACEIRA-ELVIRA Pablo HARQUEL Sylvain ŠIMKO Patrik POPA Traian GAJDOŠ Martin LAMOŠ Martin NENCHA Umberto MITTEROVÁ Kristína ŠIMO Adam HUMMEL Friedhelm REKTOROVÁ Irena

Article in Periodical

Heliyon, year: 2024, volume: 10, edition: 18, DOI
Ritual Explained? Some Issues and Challenges for the Cognitive and Evolutionary Study of Rituals

CIGÁN Jakub KRÁTKÝ Jan KUNDT Radek KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ Eva LANG Martin MAŇO Peter

Article in Periodical

Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, year: 2024, DOI
The role of costly commitment signals in assorting cooperators duringintergroup conflict

LANG Martin CHVAJA Radim PURZYCKI Benjamin G

Article in Periodical

Evolution and Human Behavior, year: 2024, volume: 45, edition: 2, DOI

LEVYNA Publications

A research centre dedicated to experimental research on religion.

A research centre dedicated to experimental research on religion.

A research centre dedicated to experimental research on religion.

Laboratory research profile

Pain and suffering as part of religious life: The Mauritian Thaipusam kavadi

Jana Nenadalová defended her dissertation thesis

Emotional contagion in a collective ritual – a study by LEVYNA & colleagues

Research Lines

Anxiety and ritualized behavior

Religion and intragroup cooperation

Religion and signaling theory

Intuitions, beliefs, moral models, and human evolution

Evolutionary phylogeny of religions

Work With Us

Speaker Series

Interviews

Radek Kundt in Hergot on Radio Wave. "Žmoulejte si svůj talisman, radí výzkumník z Brna".

Jana Nenadalová's interview in a podcast Antropodcast, "Jsme nejateističtější zemí v Evropě?"

Martin Lang in an interview (CZ) "Proč je pro společnost důležitá soudržnost? Snadněji čelí vnějším hrozbám​" (Why is cohesion important for the society? It helps to confront external threats) on a recently published study.

Latest Publications

2024

Martin Lang in an interview (CZ) "Proč je pro společnost důležitá soudržnost? Snadněji čelí vnějším hrozbám" (Why is cohesion important for the society? It helps to confront external threats) on a recently published study.