orbitofrontal cortex

A new joint study by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and the Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship, both at McGill University, has cast some light on the brain mechanisms that support people’s voting decisions. Evidence in the study shows that a part of the brain called the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (LOFC) must function properly if voters are to make choices that combine different sources of information about the candidates. The study found that damage to the LOFC leads people to base their vote on simpler information, namely the candidate’s good looks. Healthy individuals and those with brain damage affecting other parts of the frontal lobes spontaneously weighed both attractiveness and an assessment of the candidate’s competence when making their choices.

The new study provides the first evidence that the LOFC is critical for integrating different kinds of information to allow people to arrive at a preference.

Recent studies of political behaviour suggest that voting decisions can be influenced by “first-impression” social attributions based on physical appearance. Separate lines of research have […]