Political persuasion and your brain

An article in the Globe and Mail discusses a recent study finding that the brains of liberal and conservative people are often structurally different. The study found that liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex and conservatives have a larger amygdala. The scientists who performed the study state, according to the article, that the findings suggests liberals are better at dealing with conflicting information and conservatives are better at recognizing threats.

Of course, it is unclear if an individual's political persuasion is formed based on the shape of their brain at birth, or if different influences through an individual's life shapes both the person's brain and their political preferences.

Since our understanding of the brain is still fairly primitive, I would not put too much faith in the hypotheses generated from this study... but it is an interesting finding nonetheless...