Discussing Marian apparitions in the light of current knowledge in neuroscience is a challenge: the testimonies are often old and indirect, and the “visionaries” could not be questioned or even examined according to current neurological or psychiatric standards.

In doing so, we are not unaware of the heterogeneity of seers and the facts they reported: there is not necessarily a single hypothesis. In 1947, four young children reported that they had seen the Virgin in the St Gilles Church in the Loire Valley in France, on Ile Bouchard. These appearances will be discussed here in the light of current knowledge in both neuropsychiatry and sociology.

Our interpretation calls on two non-exclusive “mechanisms”: on the one hand, mental imagery, which we know can be unconscious and is modulated or generated by frontal “top-down” mechanisms; on the other hand, the sociological consideration of events, using the concept of enchantment.

It is quite possible that Jacqueline, the leader of the group, impregnated by the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the apparitions in Lourdes, was duped and a victim: she was not aware of the work of her mind, nor of the particular framework in which this experience took place. Her mind was both active because it produced the phenomenon but also passive because she was not aware of her cooperation in its production.

Discuter des apparitions mariales à la lumière des connaissances actuelles en neurosciences est une gageure : les témoignages sont souvent anciens et indirects, et les « voyants » n’ont pu être interrogés ni même examinés selon les normes neurologiques ou psychiatriques actuelles. Ce faisant, nous n’ignorons pas l’hétérogénéité des voyants et des faits qu’ils rapportent : il n’y a pas forcément une seule hypothèse. Nous rapportons ici les apparitions de l’Ile Bouchard de 1947. Notre interprétation fait appel à deux « mécanismes » non exclusifs : d’une part, l’imagerie mentale, dont on sait qu’elle peut être inconsciente et qu’elle est modulée ou générée par des mécanismes frontaux « top-down »; d’autre part, la prise en compte sociologique des événements, à l’aide du concept d’enchantement.