Similarity in greater Chinese ideology is associated with intersubject neural similarity during viewing of a pro-China video

Abstract

When people watch the same political narrative, they often form different interpretations. Although prior research has shown that political ideology can shape shared neural responses to sociopolitical content, less is known about how individual differences in national identity ideology are associated with inter-individual similarity in neural dynamics during naturalistic viewing, particularly in sociopolitical contexts where national identity is highly salient in public discourse. We examined Greater Chinese ideology, one dimension of national identity ideology, in relation to positive engagement and neural dynamics during viewing of the same pro-China video across two samples in Taiwan. In Study 1 (N = 52), higher Greater Chinese ideology was associated with greater positive engagement. In Study 2 (N = 60), participants underwent fMRI while viewing the same video. Intersubject representational similarity analysis showed that greater similarity in participants' Greater Chinese ideology item-response profiles was associated with greater similarity in neural dynamics in regions associated with the frontoparietal control, salience, and default mode networks. Notably, the within-versus-between neural similarity effect was stronger among participants with relatively lower Greater Chinese ideology scores than among those with relatively higher scores. These findings link Greater Chinese ideology to positive engagement and similarity in neural dynamics during viewing of this pro-China video. Further research is needed to determine whether similar associations can be observed across other dimensions of national identity ideology and different political narratives.