Is your brain on the right or on the left? Scientists from University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom, have identified a close relationship between the thickness of two gray matter areas of the brain and political ideology . Specifically, their analyzes with magnetic resonance images show that people who declare themselves conservative or "on the right" have greater thickness in the tissues of the brain amygdala -the area in charge of processing emotions-, while people with liberal ideology or "left-wing" tend to have more pronounced anterior cingulate cortex, an area of the brain associated with anticipation and decision-making.
According to Geraint Rees, director of the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, while there is a clear relationship, scan images alone cannot determine political preferences. Furthermore, it is still too early to determine whether it is political preference that shapes our brains or vice versa .
