生物谷報(bào)道：研究人員在9月在線出版的《自然—神經(jīng)科學(xué)》（Nature Neuroscience）期刊上報(bào)告說,，心胸開闊,、富有遠(yuǎn)見的人對(duì)需要改變習(xí)慣的信號(hào)更為敏感。
新研究表明,，自我評(píng)估為自由主義者的人有一種特殊的大腦活動(dòng),，這種活動(dòng)涉及到對(duì)習(xí)慣性傾向和可選擇性反應(yīng)間的沖突的調(diào)控。以前的心理學(xué)研究發(fā)現(xiàn),，從平均水平上看,，保守派傾向于堅(jiān)持自己的判斷和決定，而自由主義者對(duì)新經(jīng)歷持更為開放的態(tài)度,。這些不同的心理反應(yīng)與大腦處理沖突反應(yīng)的過程相關(guān),，沖突管理是大腦負(fù)責(zé)監(jiān)督習(xí)慣性反應(yīng)不適應(yīng)新環(huán)境的一種機(jī)制。
David Amodio和同事將受試人群分為兩組,，一組自認(rèn)為是保守派,，一組自認(rèn)為是自由派。利用腦電圖，他們記錄了這兩組人群的大腦活動(dòng),。記錄過程中,，當(dāng)受試者看見一個(gè)頻繁出現(xiàn)的線索時(shí)，他們會(huì)迅速地按下按紐,，以至于這種按紐行為成為一種習(xí)慣,。然而，當(dāng)受試者偶然看見出現(xiàn)的線索時(shí),，這個(gè)線索會(huì)抑制著他們按下按紐的習(xí)慣,。當(dāng)需要出現(xiàn)抑制性的反應(yīng)時(shí)，自由派的大腦前扣帶回皮層中有更活躍的神經(jīng)細(xì)胞活動(dòng),，大腦的這一區(qū)域與沖突處理有關(guān),。
當(dāng)自由派看見不太頻繁出現(xiàn)的線索時(shí)，他們會(huì)遏制著自己習(xí)慣性的反應(yīng),。新研究支持了以前的猜想：政治的傾向性部分反映了認(rèn)知機(jī)制的差異性,。（科學(xué)時(shí)報(bào)）
原始出處:
Nature Neuroscience
Published online: 9 September 2007; | doi:10.1038/nn1979
Neurocognitive correlates of liberalism and conservatism
David M Amodio1, John T Jost1, Sarah L Master2 & Cindy M Yee2
1 Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, New York 10003, USA.
2 Department of Psychology, 1285 Franz Hall, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to David M Amodio [email protected]
Political scientists and psychologists have noted that, on average, conservatives show more structured and persistent cognitive styles, whereas liberals are more responsive to informational complexity, ambiguity and novelty. We tested the hypothesis that these profiles relate to differences in general neurocognitive functioning using event-related potentials, and found that greater liberalism was associated with stronger conflict-related anterior cingulate activity, suggesting greater neurocognitive sensitivity to cues for altering a habitual response pattern.
