Figure 1.
Republicans and Democrats differ in the neural mechanisms activated while performing a risk-taking task.
Republicans more strongly activate their right amygdala, associated with orienting attention to external cues. Democrats have higher activity in their left posterior insula, associated with perceptions of internal physiological states. This activation also borders the temporal-parietal junction, and therefore may reflect a difference in internal physiological drive as well as the perception of the internal state and drive of others.
Figure 2.
Comparison of behavioral choices in the scanner, by party and decision history.
“Punishment” refers to an event in which a subject chose a risky decision and lost. The results show that there were no significant differences in the behavior of Republicans and Democrats.