gingerbrat

In an interview with PsyPost, lead study author Jesús Adrián-Ventura said that he and his team found that right-wing authoritarianism was associated with lower grey matter volume in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex — a "region involved in understanding others' thoughts and perspectives," as the assistant Zaragoza psychology professor put it.

So subscribing to "right-wing" beliefs (they merely describe it as adhering to conservative or traditional values) literally makes you less able to understand others. So even the brain shows signs of a lack of community and mutuality between people. While it doesn't surprise me that right-wingers are less understanding, it's intriguing that there seems to be a visible change in the brain. What I'm curious about now is if this can be reversed.

The left-wing authoritarians of the bunch — we don't know exactly how many, as the results weren't broken down in the paper — had less cortical (or outer brain layer) thickness in the right anterior insula, which is "associated with emotional empathy and behavioral inhibition." Cortical thickness in that brain region has been the subject of ample research, from a 2005 study that found people who meditate regularly have greater thickness in the right anterior insula to a 2018 study that linked it to greater moral disgust.

Ok so... left-wingers, according to this study, are less empathetic and more impulsive...

Kidding aside, if we take the article at face value, I think it'd be safe to say that we all need to mediate more and go on as we are. Still, more research would be nice. Hope they don't stop with this study.

I mean, we all agreed the next Pope would be worse, so...

This is gonna make the list of cool things that happened in 2025

I've heard lots of good things about it! Its first person tho, and I get motion sickness from playing games like that

Did you mean: Owlter Wilds

It's a miracle!

Al Jazeera is doing an enormous job for posterity (mostly), and maybe even for the off-chance of any of these monsters getting punished. I'm glad someone is doing it.

What a naughty owl they are!

Good one

The funniest part is that in German, her name sounds almost like the word for layperson (Laie). So she's Ursula of the Laypersons.

833g/cm3

That's a pretty dense asteroid

Charming