Using electroencephalographs, which measure neuronal impulses, the researchers examined activity in a part of the brain — the anterior cingulate cortex — that is strongly linked with the self-regulatory process of conflict monitoring.The match-up was unmistakable: respondents who had described themselves as liberals showed “significantly greater conflict-related neural activity” when the hypothetical situation called for an unscheduled break in routine.
Conservatives, however, were less flexible, refusing to deviate from old habits “despite signals that this … should be changed.”
Yep.
The test results were based on the letter W! Now, everyone knows that the letter W infuriates liberals.
Here’s a sentence from your article:
“The results: Liberals had more brain activity and made fewer mistakes than conservatives when they saw a W, while the left-wing and right-wing brains performed equally well in recognizing an M.”
Well of course they made fewer mistakes! When they saw the letter W their tiny brains went wild!
Grin gold
Comment by grimgold — September 17, 2007 @ 10:29 am
I don’t know how I should feel about this.
Comment by Capt_mathman — September 17, 2007 @ 12:27 pm
Hmph. It would be more interesting if the summary was better. It’s hard to compare liberal “measured brain activity” to conservative “habits that should be changed”; the first item is a set of data and one is the interpretation of a different set of data.
Here Grimgold, have a banana.
Comment by Silverrain — September 17, 2007 @ 1:10 pm
Silverrain, read the article.
Comment by Twisted_Colour — September 18, 2007 @ 5:53 pm