Mediacology

Study finds left-wing brain, right-wing brain - Los Angeles Times:

“There is ample data from the history of science showing that social and political liberals indeed do tend to support major revolutions in science,” said Sulloway, who has written about the history of science and has studied behavioral differences between conservatives and liberals.

Lead author David Amodio, an assistant professor of psychology at New York University, cautioned that the study looked at a narrow range of human behavior and that it would be a mistake to conclude that one political orientation was better. The tendency of conservatives to block distracting information could be a good thing depending on the situation, he said.

I’m a few days behind on this story, but ironically it’s because I’m working on my book which deals a little with the left and right brain hemispheres as being instruments for processing different kinds of media. McLuhan and Powers in The Global Village break the different brain hemispheres down as follows:

Eye-Left Hemisphere
Visual-Speech-Verbal

Logical, Mathematical
linear, Detailed
Sequential
Controlled
Intellectual
Dominant
Quantitative
Active
Analytic
Reading, Writing, Naming
Sequential Ordering
Perception of Significant Order
Complex Motor Sequences

Ear-Right Hemisphere
Tactile-Spatial-Musical-Acoustic

Holistic
Artistic, Symbolic
Simultaneous
Emotional
Intuitive, Creative
Minor, Quiet
Qualitative
Receptive
Synthetic, Gestalt
Facial Recognition
Simultaneous Comprehension
Perception of Abstract Patterns
Recognition of Complex Figures

(McLuhan, Powers, p. 54)

Based on these differing functions I’d guess the left brain is probably the Republican side. (BTW, the left-brain controls the right side of the body, so you could say that it is the “right wing” of the body.)