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

Perception ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Time course of spatiotopic updating across saccades

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 2027-2032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasper H. Fabius ◽  
Alessio Fracasso ◽  
Tanja C. W. Nijboer ◽  
Stefan Van der Stigchel
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Oculomotor System ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Oculomotor Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
The Brain

Humans move their eyes several times per second, yet we perceive the outside world as continuous despite the sudden disruptions created by each eye movement. To date, the mechanism that the brain employs to achieve visual continuity across eye movements remains unclear. While it has been proposed that the oculomotor system quickly updates and informs the visual system about the upcoming eye movement, behavioral studies investigating the time course of this updating suggest the involvement of a slow mechanism, estimated to take more than 500 ms to operate effectively. This is a surprisingly slow estimate, because both the visual system and the oculomotor system process information faster. If spatiotopic updating is indeed this slow, it cannot contribute to perceptual continuity, because it is outside the temporal regime of typical oculomotor behavior. Here, we argue that the behavioral paradigms that have been used previously are suboptimal to measure the speed of spatiotopic updating. In this study, we used a fast gaze-contingent paradigm, using high phi as a continuous stimulus across eye movements. We observed fast spatiotopic updating within 150 ms after stimulus onset. The results suggest the involvement of a fast updating mechanism that predictively influences visual perception after an eye movement. The temporal characteristics of this mechanism are compatible with the rate at which saccadic eye movements are typically observed in natural viewing.

Brain Basis of Human Social Interaction: From Concepts to Brain Imaging

2009 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 453-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riitta Hari ◽  
Miiamaaria V. Kujala
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Brain Imaging ◽  
Imaging Study ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Single Person ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Shaping ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
And Behavior

Modern neuroimaging provides a common platform for neuroscience and related disciplines to explore the human brain, mind, and behavior. We base our review on the social shaping of the human mind and discuss various aspects of brain function related to social interaction. Despite private mental contents, people can share their understanding of the world using, beyond verbal communication, nonverbal cues such as gestures, facial expressions, and postures. The understanding of nonverbal messages is supported by the brain's mirroring systems that are shaped by individual experience. Within the organism-environment system, tight links exist between action and perception, both within an individual and between several individuals. Therefore, any comprehensive brain imaging study of the neuronal basis of social cognition requires appreciation of the situated and embodied nature of human cognition, motivating simultaneous monitoring of brain and bodily functions within a socially relevant environment. Because single-person studies alone cannot unravel the dynamic aspects of interpersonal interactions, it seems both necessary and beneficial to move towards “two-person neuroscience”; technological shortcomings and a limited conceptual framework have so far hampered such a leap. We conclude by discussing some major disorders of social interaction.

Neuronal Synchronization and Selective Color Processing in the Human Brain

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 503-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias M. Müller ◽  
Andreas Keil
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Gamma Band ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Alpha Band ◽  
Color Processing ◽  
The Time Domain

In the present study, subjects selectively attended to the color of checkerboards in a feature-based attention paradigm. Induced gamma band responses (GBRs), the induced alpha band, and the event-related potential (ERP) were analyzed to uncover neuronal dynamics during selective feature processing. Replicating previous ERP findings, the selection negativity (SN) with a latency of about 160 msec was extracted. Furthermore, and similarly to previous EEG studies, a gamma band peak in a time window between 290 and 380 msec was found. This peak had its major energy in the 55to 70-Hz range and was significantly larger for the attended color. Contrary to previous human induced gamma band studies, a much earlier 40to 50-Hz peak in a time window between 160 and 220 msec after stimulus onset and, thus, concurrently to the SN was prominent with significantly more energy for attended as opposed to unattended color. The induced alpha band (9.8–11.7 Hz), on the other hand, exhibited a marked suppression for attended color in a time window between 450 and 600 msec after stimulus onset. A comparison of the time course of the 40to 50-Hz and 55to 70-Hz induced GBR, the induced alpha band, and the ERP revealed temporal coincidences for changes in the morphology of these brain responses. Despite these similarities in the time domain, the cortical source configuration was found to discriminate between induced GBRs and the SN. Our results suggest that large-scale synchronous high-frequency brain activity as measured in the human GBR play a specific role in attentive processing of stimulus features.

Activation of Preexisting and Acquired Face Representations: The N250 Event-related Potential as an Index of Face Familiarity

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 1488-1497 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Tanaka ◽  
Tim Curran ◽  
Albert L. Porterfield ◽  
Daniel Collins
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Face Representation ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
Electrophysiological Studies ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Face Stimuli

Electrophysiological studies using event-related potentials have demonstrated that face stimuli elicit a greater negative brain potential in right posterior recording sites 170 msec after stimulus onset (N170) relative to nonface stimuli. Results from repetition priming paradigms have shown that repeated exposures of familiar faces elicit a larger negative brainwave (N250r) at inferior temporal sites compared to repetitions of unfamiliar faces. However, less is known about the time course and learning conditions under which the N250 face representation is acquired. In the familiarization phase of the Joe/no Joe task, subjects studied a target “Joe” face (“Jane” for female subjects) and, during the course of the experiment, identified a series of sequentially presented faces as either Joe or not Joe. The critical stimulus conditions included the subject's own face, a same-sex Joe ( Jane) face and a same-sex “other” face. The main finding was that the subject's own face produced a focal negative deflection (N250) in posterior channels relative to nontarget faces. The task-relevant Joe target face was not differentiated from other nontarget faces in the first half of the experiment. However, in the second half, the Joe face produced an N250 response that was similar in magnitude to the own face. These findings suggest that the N250 indexes two types of face memories: a preexperimentally familiar face representation (i.e., the “own face” and a newly acquired face representation (i.e., the Joe/Jane face) that was formed during the course of the experiment.

scholarly journals Preps and Punks: An Inquiry into Externally Imposed Factors that Contribute to the Social Categorization of Students

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgann Cope Watson
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Hidden Curriculum ◽  
Social Categorization ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
School Life ◽  
The Social

The division of students into social categories is a phenomenon that invites inquiry. Historically, students have tended to migrate towards one of two groups: the preps who embrace all aspects of school life and the punks who reject all aspects of school life. These two groups are reproductions of the social order. This paper inquires into three elements of the discourse of schooling that influence the categorization of students; normalization, the hidden curriculum and the social contract.

scholarly journals Self-other representation in the social brain reflects social connection

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea L. Courtney ◽  
Meghan L. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Connection ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Brain

Social connection is critical to well-being, yet how the brain reflects our attachment to other people remains largely unknown. We combined univariate and multivariate brain imaging analyses to assess whether and how the brain organizes representations of others based on how connected they are to our own identity. During an fMRI scan, participants (N=43) completed a self- and other-reflection task for 16 targets: the self, five close others, five acquaintances, and five celebrities. In addition, they reported their subjective closeness to each target and their own trait loneliness. We examined neural responses to the self and others in a brain region that has been associated with self-representation (medial prefrontal cortex; MPFC) and across the whole brain. The structure of self-other representation in the MPFC and across the social brain appeared to cluster targets into three social categories: the self, social network members (including close others and acquaintances), and celebrities. Moreover, both univariate activation in MPFC and multivariate self-other similarity in MPFC and across the social brain increased with subjective self-other closeness ratings. Critically, participants who were less socially connected (i.e. lonelier) showed altered self-other mapping in social brain regions. Most notably, in MPFC, loneliness was associated with reduced representational similarity between the self and others. The social brain apparently maintains information about broad social categories as well as closeness to the self. Moreover, these results point to the possibility that feelings of chronic social disconnection may be mirrored by a ‘lonelier’ neural self-representation.Significance StatementSocial connection is critical to well-being, yet how the brain reflects our attachment to people remains unclear. We found that the social brain stratifies neural representations of people based on our subjective connection to them, separately clustering people who are and are not in our social network. Moreover, the people we feel closest to are represented most closely to ourselves. Finally, lonelier individuals also appeared to have a ‘lonelier’ neural self-representation in the MPFC, as loneliness attenuated the closeness between self and other neural representations in this region. The social brain appears to map our interpersonal ties, and alterations in this map may help explain why lonely individuals endorse statements such as ‘people are around me but not with me’.

Psychiatric Neuroethics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Glannon
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Psychiatric Research ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Access To Treatment ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Cognitive Liberty

This book is an analysis and discussion of questions at the intersection of psychiatry, neuroscience, philosophy, and law that have arisen from advances in psychiatric research and clinical psychiatric practice in the last 30 years. Are psychiatric disorders diseases of the brain, caused by dysfunctional neural circuits and neurotransmitters? What role do genes, neuroendocrine and neuroimmune interactions, and a person’s response to the environment play in the development of these disorders? How do different explanations of the etiology and pathophysiology of mental illness influence diagnosis, prognosis, and decisions about treatment? How do psychiatric disorders affect consciousness and agency? Could the presumed salutary effects of neural interventions for pathological thought and behavior change one’s mental states in undesirable ways? What are the social justice issues regarding access to treatment and experimental and innovative interventions for treatment-refractory conditions? What are the obligations of clinicians and researchers to patients and research subjects in psychiatry? Could the interests of society in preventing recidivism and public harm override the cognitive liberty of criminal offenders with a psychiatric disorder to refuse a therapeutic intervention in the brain? Would it be rational for a person with a chronic treatment-resistant disorder to request euthanasia or assisted suicide to end his suffering? Could psychiatric disorders be predicted and prevented? The book examines these questions in a comprehensive, systematic, and thematically integrated way. It is written for a multidisciplinary audience, including psychiatrists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, philosophers, psychologists, legal theorists, and informed lay readers.

Seeing the Same Words Differently: The Time Course of Automaticity and Top–Down Intention in Reading

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1542-1551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristof Strijkers ◽  
Daisy Bertrand ◽  
Jonathan Grainger
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Electrophysiological Response ◽  
The Brain

We investigated how linguistic intention affects the time course of visual word recognition by comparing the brain's electrophysiological response to a word's lexical frequency, a well-established psycholinguistic marker of lexical access, when participants actively retrieve the meaning of the written input (semantic categorization) versus a situation where no language processing is necessary (ink color categorization). In the semantic task, the ERPs elicited by high-frequency words started to diverge from those elicited by low-frequency words as early as 120 msec after stimulus onset. On the other hand, when categorizing the colored font of the very same words in the color task, word frequency did not modulate ERPs until some 100 msec later (220 msec poststimulus onset) and did so for a shorter period and with a smaller scalp distribution. The results demonstrate that, although written words indeed elicit automatic recognition processes in the brain, the speed and quality of lexical processing critically depends on the top–down intention to engage in a linguistic task.

How Culture Shapes Social Categorization and Inductive Reasoning: A Developmental Comparison between the United States and China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yian Xu ◽  
Megan Burns ◽  
Fangfang Wen ◽  
Emily Dahlgaard Thor ◽  
Zuo Bin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inductive Reasoning ◽  
Social Categorization ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Chinese Sample ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
American Children ◽  
Socially Relevant

Social categories allow us to make sense of the social world and generate predictions about novel encounters. Yet, how people use particular social categories varies by culture. The current study examined how social categorization varies across traditionally individualistic and collectivistic societies among young children and adults. Using the triad picture task, American and Chinese preschoolers and adults made categorization and inductive reasoning judgments based on categories perceived as biological (e.g., age and gender) or categories perceived as more social (e.g., occupation). The developmental trajectory of social categorization varied by culture: American adults were more likely than American children to categorize based on biologically-relevant categories, whereas Chinese adults were more likely than Chinese children to do so based on socially-relevant categories. The Chinese sample also relied on socially-related categories to make predictions about biological properties more than the US sample. The current findings suggest a broad cultural influence on the perceived meanings and structures of biologically- and socially-based categories.

scholarly journals On-line Processing of “Pop-Out” Words in Spoken French Dialogues

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 740-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyrille Magne ◽  
Corine Astésano ◽  
Anne Lacheret-Dujour ◽  
Michel Morel ◽  
Kai Alter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
Language Communication ◽  
On Line ◽  
Integration Problems ◽  
The Brain ◽  
And Task

Highlighting relevant information in a discourse context is a major aim of spoken language communication. Prosodic cues such as focal prominences are used to fulfill this aim through the pragmatic function of prosody. To determine whether listeners make on-line use of focal prominences to build coherent representations of the informational structure of the utterances, we used the brain event-related potential (ERP) method. Short dialogues composed of a question and an answer were presented auditorily. The design of the experiment allowed us to examine precisely the time course of the processing of prosodic patterns of sentence-medial or -final words in the answer. These patterns were either congruous or incongruous with regard to the pragmatic context introduced by the question. Furthermore, the ERP effects were compared for words with or without focal prominences. Results showed that pragmatically congruous and incongruous prosodic patterns elicit clear differences in the ERPs, which were largely modulated in latency and polarity by their position within the answer. By showing that prosodic patterns are processed on-line by listeners in order to understand the informational structure of the message, the present results demonstrate the psychobiological validity of the pragmatic concept of focus, expressed via prosodic cues. Moreover, the functional significance of the positive-going effects found sentence medially and negative-going effects found sentence finally is discussed. Whereas the former may reflect the processing of surprising and task-relevant prosodic patterns, the latter may reflect the integration problems encountered in extracting the overall informational structure of the sentence.

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