A Functional Coupling of Brain and Behavior During Social Categorization of Faces

Considerable research has focused on how people derive information about others’ social category memberships from their faces. Theoretical models posit that early extraction of task-relevant information from a face should determine the efficiency with which that face is categorized, but evidence supporting this idea has been elusive. Here, we used a novel trial-level data analytic approach to examine the relationship between two event-related potential components—the P2, indexing early attention to category-relevant information, and the P3, indexing stimulus evaluation—and the speed of overt categorization judgments. As predicted, a larger face-elicited P2 on a particular trial was associated with faster overt race or gender categorization of that face. Moreover, this association was mediated by P3 latency, indicating that extraction of more category-relevant information early in processing facilitated stimulus evaluation. These findings support continuous flow models of information processing and the long-theorized functional significance of face-elicited neurophysiological responses for social categorization.

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Recurrent circuit dynamics underlie persistent activity in the macaque frontoparietal network

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.52460 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Eric Hart ◽

Alexander C Huk

Keyword(s):

Computational Models ◽

Theoretical Models ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Persistent Activity ◽

Frontoparietal Network ◽

Recurrent Excitation ◽

Level Data ◽

Local Functional ◽

Oculomotor Response ◽

Saccade Task

During delayed oculomotor response tasks, neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) and the frontal eye fields (FEF) exhibit persistent activity that reflects the active maintenance of behaviorally relevant information. Despite many computational models of the mechanisms of persistent activity, there is a lack of circuit-level data from the primate to inform the theories. To fill this gap, we simultaneously recorded ensembles of neurons in both LIP and FEF while macaques performed a memory-guided saccade task. A population encoding model revealed strong and symmetric long-timescale recurrent excitation between LIP and FEF. Unexpectedly, LIP exhibited stronger local functional connectivity than FEF, and many neurons in LIP had longer network and intrinsic timescales. The differences in connectivity could be explained by the strength of recurrent dynamics in attractor networks. These findings reveal reciprocal multi-area circuit dynamics in the frontoparietal network during persistent activity and lay the groundwork for quantitative comparisons to theoretical models.

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The encoding of race during face processing, an event-related potential study

Perception ◽

10.1177/03010066211048573 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 030100662110485

Author(s):

Haidong Zhu ◽

Anqi Wang ◽

Heather R. Collins ◽

Yaqi Yue ◽

Shuhui Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Time Course ◽

Social Categorization ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Social Categories ◽

The Social ◽

Socially Relevant ◽

And Behavior ◽

Perceptual Differentiation ◽

The Brain

It is well known that adults spontaneously classify people into social categories and this categorization in turn guides their cognition and behavior. A wealth of research has examined how people perceive race and investigated the effect of race on social behavior. But what about race encoding? Although considerable behavioral research has investigated the encoding of race, that is, the social categorization by race, the neural underpinning of it is largely underexplored. To investigate the time course of race encoding, the current study employed a modified category verification task and a multivariate analyzing approach. We found that racial information became decodable from event-related potential topographies as early as about 200 ms after stimulus onset. At this stage, the brain can differentiate different races in a task-relevant manner. Nonetheless, it is not until 100 ms later that racial information is encoded in a socially relevant manner (own- versus other-race). Importantly, perceptual differentiation not only occurs before the encoding of the race but actually influences it: the faces that are more easily perceptually categorized are actually encoded more readily. Together, we posit that the detection and the encoding of race are decoupled although they are not completely independent. Our results provide powerful constraints toward the theory-building of race.

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Coordinated Roles of Motivation and Perception in the Regulation of Intergroup Responses: Frontal Cortical Asymmetry Effects on the P2 Event-related Potential and Behavior

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2009.21395 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 22 (11) ◽

pp. 2609-2617 ◽

Cited By ~ 53

Author(s):

David M. Amodio

Keyword(s):

Self Regulation ◽

Theoretical Models ◽

Action Control ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

White American ◽

Task Behavior ◽

On Line ◽

Frontal Activity ◽

And Behavior ◽

Cortical Asymmetry

Self-regulation is believed to involve changes in motivation and perception that function to promote goal-driven behavior. However, little is known about the way these processes interact during the on-line engagement of self-regulation. The present study examined the coordination of motivation, perception, and action control in White American participants as they regulated responses on a racial stereotyping task. Electroencephalographic indices of approach motivation (left frontal cortical asymmetry) and perceptual attention to Black versus White faces (the P2 event-related potential) were assessed during task performance. Action control was modeled from task behavior using the process-dissociation procedure. A pattern of moderated mediation emerged, such that stronger left frontal activity predicted larger P2 responses to race, which in turn predicted better action control, especially for participants holding positive racial attitudes. Results supported the hypothesis that motivation tunes perception to facilitate goal-directed action. Implications for theoretical models of intergroup response regulation, the P2 component, and the relation between motivation and perception are discussed.

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