Conservatives want to keep pressing the same button

A recent study conducted by NYU and UCLA uncovered some interesting findings: "political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information".

From the article:

Participants were college students whose politics ranged from "very liberal" to "very conservative." They were instructed to tap a keyboard when an M appeared on a computer monitor and to refrain from tapping when they saw a W.

M appeared four times more frequently than W, conditioning participants to press a key in knee-jerk fashion whenever they saw a letter.

Each participant was wired to an electroencephalograph that recorded activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that detects conflicts between a habitual tendency (pressing a key) and a more appropriate response (not pressing the key). Liberals had more brain activity and made fewer mistakes than conservatives when they saw a W, researchers said. Liberals and conservatives were equally accurate in recognizing M.

Based on the results, he said, liberals could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.

I could see Liberals and Conservatives taken this study to fuel both sets of arguments from their respective political cognitive spectrum: 1) Conservatives are automatons and so reflexive that they'd just as continue the war in Iraq because Dubya says it's the right thing to do, and 2) Liberals are wishy-washy and can't stick to their guns even when Al-Queda killer terrorists are breathing down their necks and marrying their daughters!

Ultimately, I would use these findings to propose that more Liberals and Conservatives have more sex together and make babies that engender the very balance our society sorely needs. That being said, I will now call Al Franken and Ann Coulter and ensure that they get a nice room with mood lighting and fondue and make some babies.