Students who reported more 'conservative' political views tended to have larger
amygdalae,
[5] a structure in the
temporal lobes that performs a primary role in the processing and
memory of
emotions. In addition, they found clusters in which gray matter volume was significantly associated with conservativism in the left
insula and the right
entorhinal cortex.
[5] There is evidence that conservatives are more sensitive to disgust
[7] and the insula is involved in the feeling of disgust
[8] On the other hand, more 'liberal' students tended to have a larger volume of grey matter in the
anterior cingulate cortex,
[5] a structure of the brain associated with monitoring uncertainty and handling conflicting information