Why do we vote the way we do?

WITH a vitally important General Election looming it will be surprising to many of us to know that we do not have anywhere near the degree of free will that we imagine when it comes to voting.

Brain research using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) shows that our political leanings to the left or right are very much associated with our brain structure.

A part of the brain known as the right amygdala is very active when individuals with right-wing sympathies are dealing with political problems.

When posed with political problems individuals with liberal/leftwing sympathies use different parts of the brain, called the anterior cingulate cortex.

In the subjects analysed by fMRI the more polarised their political views were, the more enlarged these respective parts of the brains were.

In simple terms what is the interpretation of these findings?

In a nutshell, our amygdala process thoughts largely perceived as threats and tend to make us jump to conclusions, make rash decisions or utter ill considered off-thecuff comments. The amygdala are, after all, primitive brain structures associated with basic emotions.

Conversely, our anterior cingulate cortical areas of the brain are active when we carefully analyse and consider what rational responses to make.

This is a very simplified digest of a growing area of research in the field of neuroscience and it may not sit easily with us when we imagine that we are in full command of our cognitive processes.

Free will is the ability to make choices but what are those choices actually based on? This brings us to the nature-nurture debate but I suspect that our political leanings are more to do with the latter in that it is all to easy to rely on our amygdala and thus be open to a certain amount of indoctrination during our formative years rather than apply cold analytical reasoning. This very probably explains why so many of us are taken in by fake news, ‘post-truth’ or are swept away under a tide of populism and are thus not easily persuaded to change our political viewpoints.

Graham Stocks, Barrow Road, Quorn,