Using M.R.I.'s to See Politics on the Brain - No More Focus Groups

[otohara]

just pop in the old MRI machine and watch various political commercials and watch the blood flow...

By JOHN TIERNEY

Published: April 20, 2004


OS ANGELES, April 16 — The political consultants discreetly observed from the next room as their subject watched the campaign commercials. But in this political experiment, unlike the usual ones, the subject did not respond by turning a dial or discussing his reactions with a focus group.

He lay inside an M.R.I. machine, watching commercials playing on the inside of his goggles as neuroscientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, measured the blood flow in his brain. Instead of asking the subject, John Graham, a Democratic voter, what he thought of the use of Sept. 11 images in a Bush campaign commercial, the researchers noted which parts of Mr. Graham's brain were active as he watched. The active parts, they also noted, were different from the parts that had lighted up in earlier tests with Republican brains.

The researchers do not claim to have figured out either party's brain yet, since they have not finished this experiment. But they have already noticed intriguing patterns in how Democrats and Republicans look at candidates. They have tested 11 subjects and say they need to test twice that many to confirm the trend.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/20/science/20SCAN.html?hp

[LynzM]

1. Interesting....

I'd love to see a big study on that... would certainly be interesting.

[Ladyhawk]

2. So, does the primitive "hind brain" light up in Republicans? :)

Reptiles. :) Although I feel that epithet is unfair to my snake collection.

[mainer]

3. This is scary -- now we can't hide our beliefs?

Will this become a pre-employment requirement? If the country becomes imprisoned by the far-rightwing, will this become the new loyalty oath?

[patrice]

4. This is pretty scary.

As if Focus Groups weren't bad enough!

Fascism here we come.