An interesting new study was released this week about physical differences in the brains of people on opposite sides of the political aisle The study was actually an attempt to replicate an earlier study published in 2011.
The issue of whether political ideology could be seen in the brain was first raised in 2011, when Colin Firth, the actor, guest-edited BBC’s Today programme, and invited University College London (UCL) to scan the brains of Conservative politician Alan Duncan, and Labour’s Stephen Pound.
Pound’s scan revealed a thicker anterior cingulate cortex – an area that regulates attention, inhibitory control, error monitoring, and motivation – while Duncan’s was thinner. Both MPs recorded similar densities for the amygdala.
At the same time, UCL also tested 90 university students and found that the gray matter of the anterior cingulate cortex was significantly…
