The neural basis of ideological differences in race categorization

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1822) ◽  
pp. 20200139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy R. Krosch ◽  
John T. Jost ◽  
Jay J. Van Bavel
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Mixed Race ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Racial Hierarchy ◽  
Racial Ambiguity ◽  
Subordinate Group ◽  
Group A ◽  
Racially Ambiguous ◽  
Ambiguous Faces

Multiracial individuals are often categorized as members of their ‘socially subordinate’ racial group—a form of social discrimination termed hypodescent—with political conservatives more likely than liberals to show this bias. Although hypodescent has been linked to racial hierarchy preservation motives, it remains unclear how political ideology influences categorization: Do conservatives and liberals see, feel or think about mixed-race faces differently? Do they differ in sensitivity to Black prototypicality (i.e. skin tone darkness and Afrocentric features) or racial ambiguity (i.e. categorization difficulty) of Black/White mixed-race faces? To help answer these questions, we collected a politically diverse sample of White participants and had them categorize mixed-race faces as Black or White during functional neuroimaging. We found that conservatism was related to greater anterior insula activity to racially ambiguous faces, and this pattern of brain activation mediated conservatives' use of hypodescent. This demonstrates that conservatives' greater sensitivity to racial ambiguity (rather than Black prototypicality) gives rise to greater categorization of mixed-race individuals into the socially subordinate group and tentatively suggests that conservatives may differ from liberals in their affective reactions to mixed-race faces. Implications for the study of race categorization and political psychology are discussed. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms'.

Seeing Similarity or Distance?

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leigh Wilton ◽  
Diana T. Sanchez ◽  
Lisa Giamo
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Mixed Race ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Perceived Similarity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intergroup Perception ◽  
Intergroup Perceptions ◽  
Racially Ambiguous ◽  
Ambiguous Faces

Biracial individuals threaten the distinctiveness of racial groups because they have mixed-race ancestry, but recent findings suggest that exposure to biracial-labeled, racially ambiguous faces may positively influence intergroup perception by reducing essentialist thinking among Whites ( Young, Sanchez, & Wilton, 2013 ). However, biracial exposure may not lead to positive intergroup perceptions for Whites who are highly racially identified and thus motivated to preserve the social distance between racial groups. We exposed Whites to racially ambiguous Asian/White biracial faces and measured the perceived similarity between Asians and Whites. We found that exposure to racially ambiguous, biracial-labeled targets may improve perceptions of intergroup similarity, but only for Whites who are less racially identified. Results are discussed in terms of motivated intergroup perception.

scholarly journals Falling through the cracks: Modeling the formation of social category boundaries

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0247562
Author(s):  
Vicky Chuqiao Yang ◽  
Tamara van der Does ◽  
Henrik Olsson
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
System Model ◽  
Joint Influence ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Racially Ambiguous ◽  
Continuous Attribute ◽  
Attribute Space ◽  
Ambiguous Faces

Social categorizations divide people into “us” and “them”, often along continuous attributes such as political ideology or skin color. This division results in both positive consequences, such as a sense of community, and negative ones, such as group conflict. Further, individuals in the middle of the spectrum can fall through the cracks of this categorization process and are seen as out-group by individuals on either side of the spectrum, becoming inbetweeners. Here, we propose a quantitative, dynamical-system model that studies the joint influence of cognitive and social processes. We model where two social groups draw the boundaries between “us” and ‘them” on a continuous attribute. Our model predicts that both groups tend to draw a more restrictive boundary than the middle of the spectrum. As a result, each group sees the individuals in the middle of the attribute space as an out-group. We test this prediction using U.S. political survey data on how political independents are perceived by registered party members as well as existing experiments on the perception of racially ambiguous faces, and find support.

scholarly journals Broadening the Stimulus Set: Introducing the American Multiracial Faces Database

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Chen ◽  
Jasmine B Norman ◽  
Yeseul Nam
Keyword(s):  
Face Perception ◽  
Person Perception ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Racial Categories ◽  
Racial Ambiguity ◽  
Face Stimuli ◽  
Racially Ambiguous ◽  
Multiracial Faces ◽  
Ambiguous Faces

Face-based perceptions form the basis for how people behave towards each other and, hence, are central to understanding human interaction. Studying face perception requires a large and diverse set of stimuli in order to make ecologically valid, generalizable conclusions. To date, there are no publicly available databases with a substantial number of Multiracial or racially ambiguous faces. Our systematic review of the literature on Multiracial person perception documented that published studies have relied on computer-generated faces (84% of stimuli), Black-White faces (74%), and male faces (63%). We sought to address these issues, and to broaden the diversity of available face stimuli, by creating the American Multiracial Faces Database (AMFD). The AMFD is a novel collection of 110 faces with mixed-race heritage and accompanying ratings of those faces by naive observers that are freely available to academic researchers. The faces (smiling and neutral expression poses) were rated on attractiveness, emotional expression, racial ambiguity, masculinity, racial group membership(s), gender group membership(s), warmth, competence, dominance, and trustworthiness. The large majority of the AMFD faces are racially ambiguous and can pass into at least two different racial categories. These faces will be useful to researchers seeking to study Multiracial person perception as well as those looking for racially ambiguous faces in order to study categorization processes in general. Consequently, the AMFD will be useful to a broad group of researchers who are studying face perception.

A Meta-Analytic Review of Hypodescent Patterns in Categorizing Multiracial and Racially Ambiguous Targets

2020 ◽  
pp. 014616722094132
Author(s):  
Danielle M. Young ◽  
Diana T. Sanchez ◽  
Kristin Pauker ◽  
Sarah E. Gaither
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Racial Group ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Analytic Review ◽  
Subgroup Analyses ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
Binary Choices ◽  
Racially Ambiguous ◽  
Ambiguous Faces

Research addressing the increasing multiracial population (i.e., identifying with two or more races) is rapidly expanding. This meta-analysis ( k = 55) examines categorization patterns consistent with hypodescent, or the tendency to categorize multiracial targets as their lower status racial group. Subgroup analyses suggest that operationalization of multiracial (e.g., presenting photos of racially ambiguous faces, or ancestry information sans picture), target gender, and categorization measurement (e.g., selecting from binary choices: Black or White; or multiple categorization options: Black, White, or multiracial) moderated categorization patterns. Operationalizing multiracial as ancestry, male targets, and measuring categorization with binary or multiple Likert-type scale outcomes supported hypodescent. However, categorizing multiracial targets as not their lower status racial group occurred for female targets or multiple categorization options. Evidence was mixed on whether perceiver and target race were related to categorization patterns. These results point to future directions for understanding categorization processes and multiracial perception.

scholarly journals The experience of time: neural mechanisms and the interplay of emotion, cognition and embodiment

2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1525) ◽  
pp. 1809-1813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Wittmann ◽  
Virginie van Wassenhove
Keyword(s):  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Pharmacological Interventions ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Experience Of Time ◽  
Cognitive Neurosciences ◽  
Sense Of Time ◽  
Introductory Paper ◽  
Behavioural Experiments ◽  
The Brain

Time research has been a neglected topic in the cognitive neurosciences of the last decades: how do humans perceive time? How and where in the brain is time processed? This introductory paper provides an overview of the empirical and theoretical papers on the psychological and neural basis of time perception collected in this theme issue. Contributors from the fields of cognitive psychology, psychiatry, neurology and neuroanatomy tackle this complex question with a variety of techniques ranging from psychophysical and behavioural experiments to pharmacological interventions and functional neuroimaging. Several (and some new) models of how and where in the brain time is processed are presented in this unique collection of recent research that covers experienced time intervals from milliseconds to minutes. We hope this volume to be conducive in developing a better understanding of the sense of time as part of complex set of brain–body factors that include cognitive, emotional and body states.

scholarly journals The longitudinal stability of fMRI activation during reward processing in adolescents and young adults

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David AA Baranger ◽  
Morgan Lindenmuth ◽  
Melissa Nance ◽  
Amanda E. Guyer ◽  
Kate Keenan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Individual Difference ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Adolescents And Young Adults ◽  
Psychiatric Disease ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Reward Function

AbstractBackgroundThe use of functional neuroimaging has been an extremely fruitful avenue for investigating the neural basis of human reward function. This approach has included identification of potential neurobiological mechanisms of psychiatric disease and examination of environmental, experiential, and biological factors that may contribute to disease risk via effects on the reward system. However, a central and largely unexamined assumption of much of this research is that neural reward function is an individual difference characteristic that is relatively stable over time.MethodsIn two independent samples of adolescents and young adults studied longitudinally (Ns = 145 & 153, 100% female & 100% male, ages 15-21 & 20-22, 2-4 scans & 2 scans respectively), we tested within-person stability of reward-task BOLD activation, with a median of 1 and 2 years between scans. We examined multiple commonly used contrasts of active states and baseline in both the anticipation and feedback phases of a card-guessing reward task. We examined the effects of cortical parcellation resolution, contrast, network (reward regions and resting-state networks), region-size, and activation strength and variability on the stability of reward-related activation.ResultsOverall, stability (ICC; intra-class correlation) across 1-2 years was modest. In both samples, contrasts of an active state relative to a baseline were more stable (e.g., Win>Baseline; mean ICC = 0.13 – 0.33) than contrasts of two active states (e.g., Win>Loss; mean ICC = 0.048 – 0.05). Additionally, activation in reward regions was less stable than in many non-task networks (e.g., dorsal attention), and activation in regions with greater between-subject variability showed higher stability in both samples.ConclusionsThese results show that functional neuroimaging activation to reward has modest stability over 1-2 years. Notably, results suggest that contrasts intended to map cognitive function and show robust group-level effects (i.e. Win > Loss) may be less effective in studies of individual differences and disease risk. The robustness of group-level activation should be weighed against other factors when selecting regions of interest in individual difference fMRI studies.

scholarly journals Ictal and interictal brain activation in episodic migraine: Neural basis for extent of allodynia

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0244320
Author(s):  
Nasim Maleki ◽  
Edina Szabo ◽  
Lino Becerra ◽  
Eric Moulton ◽  
Steven J. Scrivani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Imaging Study ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Episodic Migraine ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Trigeminal Nucleus ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Noxious Heat ◽  
No Activation

In some patients, migraine attacks are associated with symptoms of allodynia which can be localized (cephalic) or generalized (extracephalic). Using functional neuroimaging and cutaneous thermal stimulation, we aimed to investigate the differences in brain activation of patients with episodic migraine (n = 19) based on their allodynic status defined by changes between ictal and interictal pain tolerance threshold for each subject at the time of imaging. In this prospective imaging study, differences were found in brain activity between the ictal and interictal visits in the brainstem/pons, thalamus, insula, cerebellum and cingulate cortex. Significant differences were also observed in the pattern of activation along the trigeminal pathway to noxious heat stimuli in no allodynia vs. generalized allodynia in the thalamus and the trigeminal nucleus but there were no activation differences in the trigeminal ganglion. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings provide direct evidence for the view that in migraine patients who are allodynic during the ictal phase of their attacks, the spinal trigeminal nucleus and posterior thalamus become hyper-responsive (sensitized)–to the extent that they mediate cephalic and extracephalic allodynia, respectively. In addition, descending analgesic systems seem as “switched off” in generalized allodynia.

scholarly journals Neural basis for adaptive motor behavior during car driving

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryu Ohata ◽  
Kenji Ogawa ◽  
Hiroshi Imamizu
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Sensitivity Change ◽  
Car Driving

AbstractCar driving is supported by motor skills trained through continuous daily practice. One of the skills unique to expert drivers is the ability to detect abrupt changes in the driving environment and then quickly adapt their operation mode to the changes. Previous functional neuroimaging studies on motor control investigated the mechanisms underlying behaviors adaptive to changes in control properties of simple experimental devices such as a computer mouse or a joystick. The switching of multiple internal models mainly engages adaptive behaviors and underlies the interplay between the cerebellum and frontoparietal network (FPN) regions as the neural process. However, it remains unclear whether the neural mechanisms identified through an experimental paradigm using such simple devices also underlie practical driving behaviors. In the current study, we measure functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activities while participants control a realistic driving simulator inside the MRI scanner. Here, the accelerator sensitivity of a virtual car is abruptly changed, requiring participants to respond to this change as quickly as possible. We first compare brain activities before and after the sensitivity change. As a result, sensorimotor areas, including the left cerebellum, increase their activities after the sensitivity change. Moreover, after the change, activity significantly increases in the inferior parietal lobe and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, parts of the FPN regions. By contrast, the posterior cingulate cortex, a part of the default mode network, deactivates after the sensitivity change. Our results suggest that the neural bases found in previous experiments using the simpler devices can serve as the foundation of adaptive car driving. At the same time, this study also highlights the unique contribution of non-motor-related regions to addressing the high cognitive demands of driving.

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