Brain scan can tell whether you hold conservative views

Political differences are hardwired into people’s brain structure, according to a new study, with those with conservative or liberal views reacting differently to topical issues such as abortion or immigration.

The US-based study at Brown University found that those who share a particular political belief process information differently to those with opposing views.

A 2021 experiment led by Oriel FeldmanHall, associate professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences, with the Carney Institute of Brain Science at the university, measured the brain activity of people defining themselves as politically liberal or politically conservative while they watched videos about culturally sensitive topics such as abortion and immigration.

The study showed that the brains of participants who shared political beliefs reacted in a similar way.

Based on this research, a study published on Feb 1 in the journal Science Advances looked at how people with “synchronised neural fingerprints” interpreted different words. The group of 44 participants were asked to arrange words such as “abortion” and “immigration,” “American” and “police” according to their perceived similarity. They were also asked to press a button to indicate whether the words they were shown were political or not.

Participants were also shown “neutrally-worded” news clips and a vice-presidential campaign debate about police brutality, during which their brain activity was measured. Based on measured brain activity, immigration was found to be the most polarising topic for participants, closely followed by abortion, whereas policing was less polarising as a topic.

Findings showed people who shared political beliefs reacted in a similar way to the words - even without any political context.

'Neural fingerprint'

Prof FeldmanHall said: “The reason two liberal brains are synchronising when watching a complicated video is due in part to the fact that each brain has neural fingerprints for political concepts or words that are very aligned.”

He said that the study helped to “shed light on what happens in the brain that gives rise to political polarisation”.

“You can think of it as the brain representing the word by firing neurons in a certain way. It’s almost like a fingerprint, a neural fingerprint that encodes the concept of that word within the brain.”

The researchers said the findings could help to develop understanding of how a controversial news channel triggers vastly different political opinions in its audience.

Prof FeldmanHall added: “The problem of political polarisation can’t be addressed on a superficial level.

“Our work showed that these polarised beliefs are very entrenched, and go all the way down to the way people experience a political word. Understanding this will influence how researchers think about potential interventions.”

Conservatism linked to fear in the brain

Previous studies have suggested that those with politically conservative views have larger areas of the brain connected to fear and anxiety than those with Left-wing views.

A University College London study in 2010 found that those who are politically conservative have larger amygdalas, the area of the brain connected to emotion, and a smaller anterior cingulate - the area of the brain associated with courage and having a positive outlook.

The research, originally commissioned by the actor Colin Firth, found that political differences could be hardwired in people’s brain structures.

A 2013 study also found that American Republican voters had a more active right amygdala, a region involved in defensive “fight or flight” responses, while Democrats showed significantly greater activity in the left insula, a brain region associated with social and self–awareness.

The team of British and American scientists were able to predict if people voted Republican or Democrat with 83 per cent accuracy simply through studying their brain activity.