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Psychology

Politics and injuries

What do politics and injuries have to do with each other?

By Aryan · Updated 3 September 2026 · 2 min read

This is an automatic translation. Read the original

A recent study* shows that damage to certain areas of the brain- those connected to emotional and cognitive control- influences one’s political feelings and how outspoken one is about these. Neuroscience has long shown that different areas of the brain are associated with different ideological learnings, but how the anatomy of the brain affects people’s views on politics has remained unclear. Military veterans with similar experiences and with brain damage, as well as without brain damage, were tested.


Background information:

  1. The Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is one of the more important parts of the brain, especially concerning cognitive control, abstract reasoning, memory and planning.
  2. The precuneus is responsible for visual processing, episodic memory and visuospatial coordination.
  3. The amygdala is a pair of small, almond shaped complexes deep within the temporal lobes of the brain. It is a key part of the limbic system, which is responsible for the regulation of memory and behaviours related to survival like fighting, fleeing and reproduction. The amygdala specifically is responsible for memory formation and it processes emotions like fear, anxiety and aggression.
  4. The anterior temporal lobe is a critical part of the temporal lobes, which are responsible for processing auditory information, language comprehension, memory formation as well as emotional responses. It is crucial for facial recognition, object recognition and understanding social concepts like proper manners.
  5. The study was conducted by using a method called lesion mapping, which helps connect damaged brain areas to broader networks of brain connectivity. Lesions are usually damaged tissues which are results of disease, injury, infection or inflammation.


The study and its results:

The study used lesion mapping to find that these brain damages influence political intensity but not political ideology or party affiliation. Lesions that disrupted connections to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior precuneus resulted in higher political involvement and more intense feelings on politics. These effects remained the same rehardless of political views (conservative or liberal).


*For more information on the study, I suggest researching independently. This is a short article meant to give readers a basic understanding of the results of the study.


Most of the information came from: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-uncover-links-between-brain-damage-and-how-intensely-people-engage-in-politics/

The pictures came from different sources.