ABSTRACT
The field of biogenetic structuralism is a synthesis of neurobiological, anthropological, and phenomenological approaches to human nature that presages and overlaps with author dynamic interdisciplinary approach. Biogenetic structuralists therefore argue that the brain plays a fundamental part in ritual experience through its capacity to co-create a cognized and highly symbolic world that is, one in which the mind participates through its various biological mechanisms. In ritual, this cognized world is different than the everyday world, since it is thoroughly symbolic in nature. According to placebo researcher and neurobiologist Fabrizio Benedetti, the placebo effect is a potent psychobiological phenomenon where the body and brain anticipate and participate in clinical improvement. Medical anthropologist Moerman argues that the placebo response should be reconceptualized as a "meaning response", citing a large array of studies. Placebo interventions have been shown to cause measurable change in brain physiology in brain imaging studies that are distinct from those associated with medication.
