The study links personality traits with specific brain structure, said lead researcher Ryota Kanai of University College London in an April 7 news release. The results show people who identify themselves as liberals generally have a larger part of the brain involved in decision-making, and conservatives have a larger part of the brain associated with emotional learning and the processing of fear.

There have been previous psychological reports showing conservatives are more concerned about threats and are anxious in uncertain situations, but liberals tend to be more open to new experiences, according to the news release. The findings also suggest liberals tend to be better at managing conflicting information and conservatives are better at recognizing threats.

Kanai’s team suspected such differences in personality might originate in the brain. Kanai and other researchers asked 90 young adults to complete a survey and rank their political attitudes on a five-point scale from very liberal to very conservative. After the survey, participants had their brains scanned using MRI technology, which revealed ‘substantial differences’ in brain structure, according to an April 8 article published on Time magazine’s website.

This is not the first attempt to identify the biological roots of party affiliation, according to the article. In an October 2010 study, researchers from Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego located a ‘liberal gene’ called DRD4-7R, which influences the neurotransmitter dopamine, according to the article. The gene has been linked to a personality type that seeks out new experiences, according to the article.

Kanai said he acknowledges political orientation is complex and falls into more than just two left- or right-wing categories, according to the article.

The study fails to indicate whether brain structure influences political preferences or vice versa, according to the article. The study also does not explain whether or not it’s possible for the shape of the brain to change over time with an individual’s experiences and with his or her changing political views, according to the article.

‘The hypothesis is there, but many variables and factors are not taken into consideration,’ said Natalie Matson, a sophomore political science and policy studies major.

Matson said she did not think the study took into consideration whether people are moderately or extremely liberal or conservative and whether people changed their political leanings during their lifetime, as well as other political identifications, such as being an independent.

The results do not necessarily mean there are only two political orientations or that the brain structure — and therefore, political views — is not set in early life, but rather that they can be shaped over time by our experiences, Kanai said in the release.

Kanai cautioned against taking the findings too far, according to the release. He said it is very unlikely political orientation is directly encoded.

There is still more work needed to be done to determine how brain structures affect the formation of political attitude, Kanai said.

kvdolins@syr.edu