Researchers from the Annenberg Communication Neuroscience Lab recently published a study that found that different parts of the brain are responsible for perceiving different political messages.
Alongside researchers from Dartmouth College, Columbia University, and University of California Berkeley, the team found that there was no single brain region responsible for processing the various types of partisan information. Instead, the study concluded that distinct areas of the brain were active depending on the type of information that was received.
According to Nir Jacoby, a postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth, there are two notions of partisanship. The first centers on identities as Republicans or Democrats, while the other focuses on policy positions on certain issues — such as the economy and healthcare.
“To this day, it was unclear how these notions relate to each other and whether one takes some form of precedence over the other,” Jacoby said in the Annenberg news release.
To investigate this question, the researchers gathered fMRI data from 61 participants from July 2017 to August 2018, observing how their brain activity changed as they watched video clips that used policy-based messaging or negative identity-based attacks to deliver political messages.
fMRI observations revealed that when participants viewed a policy-based message, activity was observed in brain regions associated with socio-political reasoning and emotional responding. On the other hand, when viewing negative identity-based attacks, activity was observed in brain regions associated with emotional responding and understanding beliefs and intentions.
These results have implications in how we characterize partisanship and provide insights into the neurological basis of processing political discourse.
“American politics has become increasingly partisan with a tendency to view the world through partisan lenses,” Emily Falk, Vice Dean of the Annenberg School of Communication and Director of the Communication Neuroscience Lab, said in the announcement.
Published early September, the study may provide insight into 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump’s successful 2024 election campaign. With a record low voter turnout for Democrats and projection for Trump to win the popular vote, Trump’s divisive messaging may have been well received by voters.
The study utilized datasets collected by the Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab that was headed by Emile Bruneau, who worked as a research associate and lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication until passing in 2020. According to the news release, Bruneau aimed to utilize the tools of neuroscience to not only better understand politics, but also each other.
“I know that Emile’s vision in collecting these data was to try to help us see a different path forward — one where we can find better solutions and more common ground — together,” Falk said.
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