Brain and Law: An EEG Study of How We Decide or Not to Implement a Law

Abstract

Brazil has introduced a referendum regarding the prohibition of firearm commerce and propaganda arguments have invoked socially and personally driven issues in the promotion of voting in favor of and against firearm control, respectively. Here, we used different techniques to study the brain activity associated with a voter’s perception of the truthfulness of these arguments and their influence on voting decisions. Low-resolution tomography was used to identify the possible different sets of neurons activated in the analysis of the different types of propaganda. Linear correlation was used to calculate the amount information <i>H</i>(<i>e_i</i>) provided to different electrodes about how these sets of neurons enroll themselves to carry out this cognitive analysis. The results clearly showed that vote decision was not influenced by arguments that were introduced by propaganda, which was typically driven by specific social or self-interest motives. However, different neural circuits were identified in the analysis of each type of propaganda argument, independently of the declared vote (for or against the control) intention.