Politically extreme people, whether on the far right or far left, have surprisingly similar brain responses, according to a study conducted by a team led by Oriel FeldmanHall from Brown University in Rhode Island, United States.
The study, published in the journal Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, involved 44 participants who were first surveyed about their political views and placed on a scale ranging from 0 (extremely liberal) to 100 (extremely conservative).
The participants then twice watched an 18-minute video featuring a heated debate on migration and police reform between US Democrat Tim Kaine and US Republican Mike Pence during the 2016 vice-presidential debate.
While the subjects watched the video – partly in an MRI scanner – researchers measured brain activity.
The results showed that individuals with more extreme political views exhibited similar neural patterns.
The video content triggered stronger neural responses in brain regions associated with processing emotions, particularly fear and threat.
These responses were especially pronounced during moments of sharp verbal exchanges between the debaters.
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