百善笑為先-愛笑俱樂部

◎國際新聞中心（轉載自自由時報）

Everyone knows that liberals and conservatives butt heads when it comes to world views, but scientists have now shown that their brains are actually built differently. Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear.

每個人都知道自由派與保守派談到世界觀時會互相頂撞，但科學家現在已顯示，他們的大腦構造真的本來就不一樣。自由派大腦中有較多與了解複雜性相關的灰質，保守派的大腦則是有較大區塊處理恐懼。

"We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala," the study said.

研究說：「我們發現，自由主義與前扣帶皮質增加的灰質相關，而保守主義則與右側杏仁核大小相關。」

"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual’s political orientation," said Ryota Kanai of the University College London, where the research took place. "Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure."

此份研究在倫敦大學學院進行，該校的加奈表示，「先前已知有些心理特徵可預測一個人的政治傾向」，「現在我們的研究將這些人格特徵與大腦特定結構相連。」

The study was based on 90 "healthy young adults" who reported their political views on a scale of one to five from very liberal to very conservative, then agreed to have their brains scanned. People with a large amygdala are "more sensitive to disgust" and tend to "respond to threatening situations with more aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions," the study said.

此份研究根據90名「健康年輕成人」進行，他們在1到5級的量尺上，通報他們的政治觀是非常自由派還是非常保守派，接著同意接受大腦掃描。杏仁核大者，「對厭惡較敏感」，傾向「以比自由派激進的方式回應受威脅的狀況，對於威脅性的臉部表情也比較敏感」。

新聞辭典

whereas：連接詞，然而。例句：You eat a massive plate of food for lunch, whereas I have just a sandwich.（你午餐吃超多，而我只吃了個三明治。）

orientation：名詞，傾向。例句：We employ people without regard to their political or sexual orientation.（我們雇人不會考慮他們的政治或性傾向。）

expression：名詞，表情。例句：I could tell from her expression that something serious had happened.（我可以從她的表情知道事情大條了。）