"Neurological divide seen between liberals and conservatives" in The Sacramento Bee, Monday, September 10, 2007 by Carrie Peyton Dahlberg, Bee Staff Writer.
See below the intro for details about a study of liberal and conservative responses in a scientific study.
I have been visiting Daily Kos daily for several months. The article I am going to describe was in the Sacramento Bee this morning. Despite my limited abilities on the computer, I wanted to share this article. Sorry I do not know how to link to it or blockquote it.
The study's lead author, David Amodio, a professor of psychology at New York University, is quoted as saying "political attitudes are dispositional in nature, almost more like personalities. They're not necessarily a choice."
45 college students were selected along a political spectrum from liberal to conservative. Using a cap to measure electrical activities in a part of the brain that measures conflict monitoring, students were asked to press a button that coordinated with letters flashed from a screen. The speed of the process set up conflict.
During the difficult high speed part of the test, "self-described conservatives pressed the button anyway nearly half the time - an error rate of 44 out of 100. Liberals fumbled about a third of the time, with an error rate of 34 out of 100."
There is another measurable brain wave the occurs when a subject successfully resists pushing the button in error. That signal could be associated with learning from mistakes. Both responses tested better in liberal subjects.
"Conservatives tend to be conscientious, consistent and structured while liberals lean toward open-minded, creative and messy" said New York University psychology professor John Jost in an e-mail.