Which part of your brain do
you vote with? Do you strive for reason or emotion? Planning or memory? Empathy or fear? Maybe you're not alone.
Our brains are beautiful things, even more complex than our convoluted political system. If you write a book about Bush's, you may end up on the no fly list. If you try to figure out your own, you may just improve yourself.
Here's a shocker: partisan thought is unconscious. A recent study (NYT article) shows particular regions of neural activation involved in that act of politico-cognitive dissonance.
One might even go out on a limb and hypothesize further about the role of cognition on politics... more below the fold.
The experiment took self-reporting liberals or conservatives and presented them with (doctored) flip-floppity statements from John Kerry and George W Bush. Unsurprisingly, each side gave the benefit of the doubt to their guy, and they each crucified the opponent.
While cognitive dissonance is nothing new - see my sig - this is the first study I've seen to isolate this function to the cingulate. Unfortunately, it's not clear exactly what part of the cingulate gyrus showed activation - but it brings up some really interesting questions.
As means of disclosure: with the brain, as with politics, we often deal with oversimplifications. In both, there are exceptions to everything, reality isn't always transparent, and the truth is usually more complex than we'd like to think. But man... with both of them, you can find out some really neat stuff.
Look at these groups of neurological structures. Tell me which you vote with:
Frontal Cortex. Often - perhaps ironically in today's climate - referred to as "the executive" of the brain. The frontal lobe is heavily involved in
judgement, problem solving, planning, sexual behavior, and empathy (
1 2 3).
Limbic System. The limbic system is base; associations include
smell, fear, and memory (and possibly cursing) (
1 2).
Visual pathways. From your eyes to the optic chiasm to the lateral geniculate nucleus to primary visual cortex to visual association areas. Cmon, admit it - John Edwards and John Roberts are prettyboys.
Wernicke's Area. We know it's invovled in speech production. Recent work indicates it may have a role in
sounding out unfamiliar words. Sound like anyone you know? (
1 2)
So all these different pathways, all of these different ways between conscious and sub- to make up our minds, as it were. How do we decide?
Is there perhaps one group that bases decisions on empathy, planning, and problem solving (Ok, maybe engaging in some sexual behavior)? Is there a group that rules by fear and stench (With both of these hardwired into their memories)?
Yeah, oversimplified in the brain and politics. In the end, though, I have to go back to the NYT article:
It is possible to override these biases, Dr. Westen said, "but you have to engage in ruthless self reflection, to say, 'All right, I know what I want to believe, but I have to be honest.' "
He added, "It speaks to the character of the discourse that this quality is rarely talked about in politics."