Your brain IS different
Published on Thu, Aug 16th 2012, 08:37
Ever wonder why views on issues as immigration or gay marriage are self-evident to you...
Ever wonder why views on issues as immigration or gay marriage are self-evident to you, but others come to the opposite conclusions? New research with Edinburgh researcher Tim Bates found that these differences in opinion are associated with structural differences between the brain: Individual's who value.
People highly attuned to left-liberal values of equality of outcomes and duties of care had greater volume in their left dorsal medial prefrontal cortex. A quite different system (anterior insula) was associated with caring strongly about the purity and sanctity of life: values associated with religion, and with social conservatism.
Further Information
Lewis, G. J., Kanai, R., Bates, T. C., & Rees, G. (2012). Moral values are associated with individual differences in regional brain volume. J Cogn Neurosci, 24(8), 1657-1663. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00239