Using M.R.I.'s to See Politics on the Brain (interesting)

[cb88]

April 20, 2004

Using M.R.I.'s to See Politics on the Brain

By JOHN TIERNEY


Excerpt:




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.

"These new tools could help us someday be less reliant on clichés and unproven adages," said Tom Freedman, a strategist in the 1996 Clinton campaign, later a White House aide and now a sponsor of the research. "They'll help put a bit more science in political science."

Rest of the story: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/20/sc...print&position=

[JohnRN]

I always thought that "Political science" was one of the world's biggest contradictions...

[cb88]

Originally Posted by John.

I always thought that "Political science" was one of the world's biggest contradictions...

Contradictions or Oxymorons????