When I read in late 2020 that Covid-19 could lead to what neuroscientists called dysexecutive syndrome, this piqued my attention. I’ve followed, on an armchair basis, neuroscience for more than a decade now, and this more technical description for “brain fog” (a very misty appellation indeed) made me wonder exactly what was going on with such symptoms.
Dysexecutive syndrome, neurologically speaking, indicates that there is damage located in the frontal lobes of the brain. In humans, this can manifest in various ways. Some common symptoms are difficulty concentrating, confusion, increased irritability, and impulsivity. Here’s a quick video about this area of the brain.
In 2020, it was estimated that up to 36% of Covid patients who complained of cognitive issues suffered explicitly from dysexecutive syndrome (DS). However, the official numbers refer only to those in a clinical setting, so they are not taking into account people with subclinical levels of DS. For rough estimates, let’s say 20%— 1 out of 5 — of Covid brain fog sufferers have diagnosable DS (whether or not they have actually received said diagnosis). Any way you slice it, that’s a significant chunk of that population.
Keep in mind that the people who have shunned not only vaccine mandates but the vaccines themselves and any other sort of mechanism for self-protection when it comes to Covid have been conservatives, for the most part. (Some neopagans and other left-leaning subpopulations that strongly identify with alternative spirituality and/or medicine have also joined these cultural extremists. Strange bedfellows.) But generally speaking, those most at risk of contracting Covid in the first place, those taking few to no precautions, stand the greatest risk of contracting these symptoms.
DS can cause a constellation of neurological issues, because the area it tends to affect, the prefrontal cortex, is involved in so many everyday functions of a normal individual. These functions span cognitive, behavioral, and social domains, as noted in this chart of prefrontal functions (right).
Particularly of note in the social domain is theory of mind, as that is how we as individuals figure out what another person might be feeling and thinking and thus enables us to make predictions about that person’s future behavior. This facilitates social interaction, and I’d go so far as to say we’d be hard-pressed as cultural beings to be able to work together in any serious capacity without this ability.
One of the structures affected by DS is the ventral medial prefrontal cortext (vmPFC), damage to which has been linked with increased affinity for authoritarianism AND religious fundmentalism.
The scientists described the scales they used to measure these concepts:
The AS [Authoritarian Scale] defines authoritarianism as the covariation of three attitudinal clusters: 1) Authoritarian submission, a high degree of submission to authority figures who are perceived to be established and legitimate in society; 2) Authoritarian aggression, a general aggressiveness that is perceived to be sanctioned by established authorities; and 3) Conventionalism, a high degree of adherence to the social conventions that are perceived to be endorsed by society’s authorities. [...]
The RFS [Religious Fundamentalism Scale] defined religious fundamentalism with four dimensions: 1) the belief that there is one set of religious teachings that contains the fundamental, basic, intrinsic, inerrant truth about humanity and deity; 2) this essential truth is opposed to evil which must be actively fought; 3) the truth must be followed today according to the fundamental practices of the past; and 4) that those who follow these fundamental teachings have a special relationship with the deity.
Results, the authors of this study stated, showed that “vmPFC damage increased authoritarianism.” The authors went on to say that “vmPFC patients exhibit characteristics similar to those often seen in healthy individuals with high authoritarianism and fundamentalism. [...] This initial empirical foray into the neural basis of authoritarianism suggests that the vmPFC plays a critical role in the resistance of authoritarian persuasion intent on injuring others. Our results... suggest this hostility may be readily harnessed by perceived authority figures.”
The study, published in 2012, predates Covid, and has a small sample size (limited due to the population being studied: people who have such damage). However, we can apply their findings to our current situation. While Covid does not deal damage in the way, say, a stroke does, DS can be caused by inflammation as well, which is exactly how Covid affects the cerebrospinal fluid, as well as the myelin sheaths of axons. (In addition, it appears that Covid inhibits the activity of GABA neurotransmitters, which could contribute to the presence of symptoms as well as their severity.)
Ultimately, what this means, as far as I can tell, is that the more people who contract Covid run a significant risk of suffering from dysexecutive syndrome, which can then lead to decreased inhibitions, lessened ability to evaluate risk and reward, blunted affect, increased impulsivity, increased anger issues, and even increased levels of gullibility. DS can lead to what some neuroscientists call pseudopsychopathy. That our Covid numbers are fairly concentrated in conservative backwaters means that they are at even higher susceptibility to being lured to authoritarianism, fascism, and even more extreme versions such as Nazism. Such would depend on the individual’s mental constitution prior to infection.
The extremists have even more reason to be Team Covid. It may just be a yet undetected route of making converts.