Kelly Bulkeley in ''The Oxford Handbook of Religion Conversion'' has written that, as of 2014, no neuro-scientific research focused specifically on religious conversion has been done.{{sfn|Bulkeley|2014|p=240}} Nor is there a single consensus on how the brain/mind system works, and researchers take many different approaches.{{sfn|Bulkeley|2014|loc=Reading the Cognitive Neuroscience Literature}} There is controversy over the [[Mind–body problem|mind/body problem]], as well as whether the brain is simply modular (composed of separate parts), or if that is too limited an explanation for what Bulkeley calls the complex, "global, synthetic, whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts aspects of brain function".{{sfn|Bulkeley|2014|loc=Conceptual Polarities and Methodological Challenges in Cognitive Neuroscience}} There is disagreement over determinism vs. free will, the use of brain imaging, first-person reports of conversion, and the applications of quantum physics.{{sfn|Bulkeley|2014|loc=The Mind/Body Problem}}{{sfn|Bulkeley|2014|loc=The value of introspection}}
The phenomenon of conversion is based on the belief that humans have the ability to change the way they mentally perceive and experience the world. Research on the plasticity of the brain has shown that the brain's ability to create new neural pathways remains with ussomeone throughout ourtheir liveslife.{{sfn|Bulkeley|2014|loc=Brain Development}} Bulkeley writes that "Cognitive neuroscience in relation to religious conversions, where people undergo a basic reordering of the assumptions and expectations that frame their perceptions of the world, may lead to new evidence regarding the latent potential of brain/mind development".{{sfn|Bulkeley|2014|loc=Vision and Meditation}}
Studies on prayer and meditation show they alter the brain's functioning in measurable, material, ways. :
{{blockquote|"Several implications flow from that basic finding. One is that at least some aspects of religion are not generated by pathological brain functioning. Current [cognitive neuroscience] research refutes the idea that religion{{nbsp}}[...] stems from faulty brain/mind processes. The best available scientific evidence indicates that people who engage in religiously motivated contemplative practices have normal, healthy brains. Perhaps other forms of religion can be more directly tied to neuropathology, but in the case of meditation and prayer the CN literature supports a pragmatic appreciation of the effectiveness of religious practices in shaping the healthy interaction of brain and mind".{{sfn|Bulkeley|2014|loc= Vision and Meditation}}}}
