Maggots Gross You Out? You Could Be a Conservative
Would you believe that our brain's response to disgusting images can tell whether we're a Republican or Democrat? I didn't say disgusting images of Republicans (sorry, all you conservatives out there!), but apparently, a new study has found, how much your brain responds to pictures of maggot infestations, rotting carcasses, unidentifiable gunk in the kitchen sink, could predict whether you are liberal or conservative. Say what? An international team of scientists led by Virginia Tech reports that the strength of a person’s reaction to repulsive images can forecast their political ideology, according to newswise.com. “Disgusting images generate neural responses that are highly predictive of political orientation even when those neural responses don’t correspond with an individual’s conscious reaction to the images,” the Web site quotes Read Montague , a Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute professor who led the study. “Remarkably, we found that the brai...