Political Leanings May Be in Your Head

Sept. 10, 2007 — -- Ever wonder why Democrats and Republicans can never agree? The answer may lie in the brain.

Liberals and conservatives think in fundamentally different ways, researchers reported in a study published Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The study, conducted at New York University, suggested that while conservatives are known to be more structured and persistent when making decisions, liberals are more open to new experiences. Researchers have traced these stereotypes to differences in brain activity.

"Political orientation is based on the fundamental way our brains process information," said lead study author David Amodio, assistant professor of psychology at NYU.

"There is a range of ways that people process information. Some people are more comfortable seeing the pros and cons of a situation. Others are more comfortable to see the situation in only one way."

In the study, participants were seated in front of a computer screen while electrodes recorded electrical activity in their brains.

Two different letters were flashed on the screen for only a few milliseconds. If an M appeared, participants had to press a button in front of them. If a W appeared, participants were told to remain still.

"Eighty percent of the time, the letter M appeared," Amodio said. "The stimulus was so frequent that individuals were just sitting there pressing a button. This behavior became habitual."

Because the letter W appeared only sporadically, it was unexpected and surprised the participants. It took a great deal of mental effort to not press the button — allowing researchers to look at how well the subjects dealt with conflicting information and how quickly they could switch their response patterns.

What researchers found was that liberals were better at processing this conflicting information. The liberals were about 10 percent more likely to hold back from an incorrect response than their conservative counterparts.

Conservatives, on the other hand, were more likely to stay the course. They kept pressing the button even when the letter W flashed on the screen.