Brain Study Reveals What Makes People Political Junkies Regardless of Their Views

In a finding that challenges common perceptions about what divides us politically, researchers have identified a specific brain circuit that determines how intensely people engage with politics—regardless of whether they lean left or right.

The study, published April 10 in the journal Brain, analyzed data from 124 male military Veterans who had suffered penetrating head trauma, uncovering neural pathways that appear to regulate political engagement across ideological boundaries.

“Many studies have examined brain differences between conservatives and liberals, but our study focuses instead on intensity of political involvement, and in that respect, we find that people across the political spectrum are more similar than they are different,” said Dr. Shan Siddiqi, corresponding author and director of Psychiatric Neuromodulation Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics.

The research team examined Veterans from the Vietnam Head Injury Study approximately 40-45 years after their injuries. Participants completed questionnaires measuring their intensity of political involvement—including their interest in politics, how frequently they followed political news, and how often they discussed politics with others.

What emerged was a striking pattern that transcended party lines. People with damage to certain brain regions showed predictable changes in how intensely they engaged with politics, regardless of their ideological leanings.

Damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior precuneus—areas linked to cognitive control and executive function—was associated with more intense political involvement. Conversely, lesions connected to the amygdala and anterolateral temporal lobes, which process fear and empathy, correlated with decreased political engagement.

These findings suggest that our brain’s wiring may play a significant role in determining whether someone becomes a political news junkie or avoids political discussions altogether—a trait that appears independent of whether they vote Republican or Democrat.

The researchers note that political views themselves didn’t correlate with any specific neuroanatomical features, nor did they influence the relationship between brain anatomy and political engagement.

This research arrives during a time of extreme political polarization in America, offering a reminder that beneath our ideological differences may lie common neurological mechanisms that drive political behavior across the spectrum.

The study’s approach was particularly notable for its use of lesion network mapping—a method that allows researchers to identify networks of brain regions functionally connected to the sites of brain damage. This provided insights not just into which brain areas were damaged, but how those damages affected broader neural circuits.

The findings could potentially inform future research on political behavior and might even have clinical applications in assessing patients after brain injuries.

While the study focused exclusively on male Veterans with traumatic brain injuries, the results raise intriguing questions about how these circuits might function in the general population and across different demographic groups.

As we approach another contentious election season, this research offers a fascinating perspective: despite our fierce political divides, the neural mechanisms that drive our level of political engagement may be remarkably similar across ideological lines.