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Remembering and Voting: Theory and Evidence from Amnesic Patients.
Jason C Coronel1, Melissa C Duff2, David E Warren3
1University of Illinois, Department of Political Science, 1407 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801.
American Journal of Political Science
|February 11, 2014
Summary
Even with profound amnesia, individuals can still vote for candidates aligning with their political views. This suggests that memory recall is not essential for making sound political decisions.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Political Science
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Public opinion research suggests voters can align with candidates on issues without recalling specific candidate stances.
- This ability is often attributed to voters' own issue positions guiding their choices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if individuals with profound amnesia, incapable of recalling candidate issue information, can still vote based on their political views.
- To test the necessity of memory recall for informed voting decisions.
Main Methods:
- An experiment was designed to assess the voting behavior of amnesic patients.
- Patients were evaluated on their ability to select candidates whose issue positions matched their own political beliefs, despite memory impairment.
Main Results:
- Amnesic patients consistently voted for candidates whose positions aligned with their own political views.
- This occurred even though patients could not remember any specific issue information or candidate associations.
Conclusions:
- Sound voting decisions do not necessarily require the recall or recognition of candidate-issue associations.
- Findings support a multiple memory systems model in political decision-making, highlighting non-declarative memory's role.
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