In the world today, it seems that politics are always at the top of mind. But some people are more political and more politically passionate than others — partially thanks to the brain itself. According to a paper published in the journal Brain, there are circuits in our minds that contribute to our levels of political intensity, and researchers recently revealed these circuits, identifying which brain regions are involved.
“We didn’t find brain networks tied to liberal or conservative ideology, but we identified circuits that influence the intensity of political engagement across the political spectrum,” said Jordan Grafman, a paper author and a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Northwestern University, according to a press release.
Ultimately, the results reveal that the regions of our brain that control our cognition and emotion influence our levels of political passion — a result with clear cultural and clinical implications.
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Political Passion in the Brain
Of course, there are all sorts of factors that are tied to our interest in politics, and the brain itself is one of them. But the brain regions that are involved in increasing or decreasing our political passion aren’t well-recognized.
Setting out to identify which parts of the brain influence a person’s political intensity, researchers turned to veterans. Studying the brains and the political behaviors of veterans with brain injuries and without, the researchers determined which parts of the brain are behind the strength of our political beliefs.
In particular, while brain injuries in the prefrontal cortex were tied to increased political passion, brain injuries in the amygdala were tied to decreased political passion. These results suggest that the brain regions associated with cognitive control and emotion are deeply involved in mediating our political intensity, with injuries that dull our cognitive control increasing our intensity and injuries that dull our emotions doing the opposite.
“While most people have not sustained brain injuries akin to those experienced by the veterans in the study, our findings tell us what neural circuits are at play for the population at large,” Grafman said in the release.
Indeed, the implications of this research are wide ranging, as a recognition of the brain’s involvement in our political passion could improve our ability to communicate and collaborate on politics overall. It could also inform brain injury assessments in clinical settings, Grafman said in the release, as increases or decreases in political intensity could be indicative issues in the prefrontal cortex or the amygdala.
“Like other aspects of social behavior, assessments should consider asking whether a patient has experienced changes in their political attitudes since their brain injury,” he added in the release.
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Brain Injury Insights
To determine the association between brain injuries and political behavior, the researchers turned to the results of the Vietnam Head Injury study, which Grafman has led for decades, since his own service in the U.S. Air Force. In one portion of the study, the brain injuries and the political behaviors of almost 160 veterans were assessed, the former through neuroimaging and the latter through surveys. Conducted between 2008 and 2012, the surveys assessed the veterans’ political behaviors before and after their injuries, which were sustained around 40 to 45 years prior.
Analyzing the results of this study, the researchers determined whether injuries in specific parts of the brain were associated with specific political behaviors. According to the researchers, the associations that they found — between injuries in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala and political passion — were not attributable to outside factors, such as age, personality, or party affiliation.
The result “allows us to better assess meaningful aspects of life,” said Grafman in the press release. “We expect this research will point to ways we can assist patients in recovering from brain injuries.”
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Article Sources
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Sam Walters is a journalist covering archaeology, paleontology, ecology, and evolution for Discover, along with an assortment of other topics. Before joining the Discover team as an assistant editor in 2022, Sam studied journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
