By Andrew Duffy, Postmedia News
A new British study suggests there are distinct and identifiable anatomical features in the brains of opponents on the left and right of the political spectrum.
OTTAWA — Canada's Liberals and Conservatives may have differences that go well beyond their opinions about what constitutes contempt of Parliament.A new British study suggests there are distinct and identifiable anatomical features in the brains of opponents on the left and right of the political spectrum.
The study, published in the online edition of Current Biology, found that people who identified themselves as liberal tended to have larger anterior cingulate cortexes (ACC), a region of the brain that monitors uncertainty and conflict. Meanwhile, those who identified themselves as conservative had larger amygdalas. Among other things, the almond-shaped amygdala processes emotions related to fear.
Researchers believe the physical differences reflect the nature of voters: that liberals tend to be more comfortable with uncertainty while conservatives are more sensitive to fear.
"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," said Dr. Ryota Kanai, of the University College London's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. "Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure." Previous work has found that political orientation is associated with how people manage uncertainty and fear.
As part of the British study, 90 young adults reported their political views on a five-point scale from very liberal to very conservative. Then, their brains were scanned to measure the size of two regions: the amygdala and ACC. Researchers discovered "significant associations" between the volume of grey matter in the regions and an individual's political bent. In fact, the research suggests that MRI scans could offer fairly accurate guesses at the political bent of subjects. The British researchers did just that with 28 volunteers in order to test the reliability of their initial findings. Using MRI results, they correctly predicted the political orientation of volunteers more than 70 per cent of the time.
But the researchers concede they don't know whether one's political world view is the result of nature or nurture — whether, for example, conservatives are usually born with large amygdalas, or develop them due to life experiences. "It requires a longitudinal study," the researchers wrote, "to determine whether the changes in brain structure that we observed lead to changes in political behaviour, or whether political attitudes and behaviour instead result in changes of brain structure."
In a written statement, Kanai also cautioned about taking the findings of his study too far.
"It's very unlikely that actual political orientation is directly encoded in these brain regions," he said, warning more work must be done to understand how the regions interact with other parts of the brain.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
A new British study suggests there are distinct and identifiable anatomical features in the brains of opponents on the left and right of the political spectrum.
OTTAWA — Canada's Liberals and Conservatives may have differences that go well beyond their opinions about what constitutes contempt of Parliament.A new British study suggests there are distinct and identifiable anatomical features in the brains of opponents on the left and right of the political spectrum.
The study, published in the online edition of Current Biology, found that people who identified themselves as liberal tended to have larger anterior cingulate cortexes (ACC), a region of the brain that monitors uncertainty and conflict. Meanwhile, those who identified themselves as conservative had larger amygdalas. Among other things, the almond-shaped amygdala processes emotions related to fear.
Researchers believe the physical differences reflect the nature of voters: that liberals tend to be more comfortable with uncertainty while conservatives are more sensitive to fear.
"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," said Dr. Ryota Kanai, of the University College London's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. "Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure." Previous work has found that political orientation is associated with how people manage uncertainty and fear.
As part of the British study, 90 young adults reported their political views on a five-point scale from very liberal to very conservative. Then, their brains were scanned to measure the size of two regions: the amygdala and ACC. Researchers discovered "significant associations" between the volume of grey matter in the regions and an individual's political bent. In fact, the research suggests that MRI scans could offer fairly accurate guesses at the political bent of subjects. The British researchers did just that with 28 volunteers in order to test the reliability of their initial findings. Using MRI results, they correctly predicted the political orientation of volunteers more than 70 per cent of the time.
But the researchers concede they don't know whether one's political world view is the result of nature or nurture — whether, for example, conservatives are usually born with large amygdalas, or develop them due to life experiences. "It requires a longitudinal study," the researchers wrote, "to determine whether the changes in brain structure that we observed lead to changes in political behaviour, or whether political attitudes and behaviour instead result in changes of brain structure."
In a written statement, Kanai also cautioned about taking the findings of his study too far.
"It's very unlikely that actual political orientation is directly encoded in these brain regions," he said, warning more work must be done to understand how the regions interact with other parts of the brain.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
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