Neurotheology

 "Neurotheology" is the term that describes the scientific study of the neurological basis for religious or spiritual experiences. Other researchers prefer to use terms like "spiritual neuroscience" or "neuroscience of religion". 

These experiences include:

• Visions of the divine
• Ecstatic trance states
• Hauntings and "the sensed presence"
• Transcendental experiences

The term "neurotheology" was first used by Aldous Huxley in his novel "Island".  

 "And don't forget all the other sciences," said Dr. Robert. "Pharmacology, sociology, physiology, not to mention pure and applied autology, neurotheology, metachemistry, my mysticism, and the ultimate science," he added, looking away so as to be more alone with his thoughts of Lakshmi in the hospital, "the science that sooner or later we shall all have to be examined in— thanatology." He was silent for a moment; then, in another tone, "Well, let's go and get washed up," he said and, opening the blue door, led the way into a long changing room with a row of showers and wash basins at one end and on the opposite wall, tiers of lockers and a large hanging cupboard." 

During the 1980s Michael Persinger stimulated the temporal lobes of human subjects with a weak magnetic field using an apparatus that popularly became known as the "God helmet" and reported that many of his subjects claimed to experience a "sensed presence" during stimulation. 

This work has been criticised, though some researchers have published a replication of one God Helmet experiment.