Tory Voters Found To Have Larger 'primitive' Lobe In Brain

[Moontanman]

Tory voters found to have larger 'primitive' lobe in brain

 

An MRI scan of the brain. The right amygdala - an ancient part of the brain - was larger in those people who described themselves as conservative. It's located where the yellow area meets the red in the centre of the picture

 

Our political allegiances could be hard-wired into our brains, neuroscientists believe.

 

Researchers have found evidence that the brains of conservatives are a different shape to those of Left-wingers.

 

Scans of 90 students’ brains at University College London uncovered a ‘strong correlation’ between the thickness of two particular areas of grey matter and an individual’s political views.

 

Self-proclaimed right-wingers had a more pronounced amygdala - a primitive part of the brain associated with emotion.

It is an almond-shape set of neurons located deep in the brain's medial temporal lobe.

However, those aligned to the left had thicker anterior cingulates - which is an area associated with anticipation and decision-making.

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1342239/Brain-study-reveals-right-wing-conservatives-larger-primitive-amygdala.html#ixzz1FghXi9wS

[CraigD]

This "right wingers have big amygdalas" correlation leaves the familiar "nature vs. nurture" question unanswered: do people with big amygdalas grow up to be right wingers, or do people raised to be right wingers grow big amygdalas? (and similarly for left wingers and big anterior cingulates)

 

I'd like to think that gross brain anatomy like this is due to nurture, rather than one's political and moral philosophy being genetically predetermined, but until more brain studies like the one reported in this article are done, involving people from infancy through adulthood, I don't see any obvious way to know.