Cognitive–Affective Dynamics of Political Attitude Polarization: EEG-Based Behavioral Evidence from a COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Task

Political polarization in policy evaluations arises from identity-driven cognitive-affective dynamics, yet the neural mechanisms underlying the real-time processing of policy texts remain unexplored. This study bridges this gap by employing EEG to capture neurobehavioral responses during a COVID-19 vaccine mandate judgment task. The analysis of 70 politically stratified participants revealed significantly elevated gamma1 (30-50 Hz) activity in the right prefrontal cortex among policy supporters, reflecting enhanced attentional engagement and value integration. These topographically specific neural dissociations demonstrate how ideological alignment modulates cognitive-affective processing. Our findings establish EEG as a robust tool for quantifying implicit identity-driven evaluations, offering new pathways to decode polarization in contested policy contexts.