"They were instructed to tap a keyboard when an M appeared on a computer monitor and to refrain from tapping when they saw a W.
"M appeared four times more frequently than W, conditioning participants to press a key in knee-jerk fashion whenever they saw a letter.
"Each participant was wired to an electroencephalograph that recorded activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that detects conflicts between a habitual tendency (pressing a key) and a more appropriate response (not pressing the key). Liberals had more brain activity and made fewer mistakes than conservatives when they saw a W, researchers said. Liberals and conservatives were equally accurate in recognizing M.
"Analyzing the data, Sulloway said liberals were 4.9 times as likely as conservatives to show activity in the brain circuits that deal with conflicts, and 2.2 times as likely to score in the top half of the distribution for accuracy."
So, one group was better at responding in "knee-jerk fashion", but they were conflicted about it, while the other seems to have gotten bored or distracted.
No THERE's a scientific breakthrough.
"Sulloway said the results could explain why President Bush demonstrated a single-minded commitment to the Iraq war and why some people perceived Sen. John F. Kerry, the liberal Massachusetts Democrat who opposed Bush in the 2004 presidential race, as a "flip-flopper" for changing his mind about the conflict.
"Based on the results, he said, liberals could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.
"'There is ample data from the history of science showing that social and political liberals indeed do tend to support major revolutions in science,' said Sulloway, who has written about the history of science and has studied behavioral differences between conservatives and liberals."
What a load of crap. Feeling conflicted over whether to press a button for M's and W's, but doing it anyway "in knee-jerk fashion", means one is more openminded? |
