Processing of Task-Irrelevant Race Information is Associated with Diminished Cognitive Control in Black and White Individuals

Rubien-Thomas, Estee; Berrian, Nia; Cervera, Alessandra; Nardos, Binyam; Cohen, Alexandra O.; Lowrey, Ariel; Daumeyer, Natalie M.; Camp, Nicholas P.; Hughes, Brent; Eberhardt, Jennifer L.; Taylor-Thompson, Kim; Fair, Damien A.; Richeson, Jennifer A.; Casey, B. J.

doi:10.3758/s13415-021-00896-8

Cited by 5 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 122 publications

(192 reference statements)

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“…Paralleling our behavioral findings, Black and White faces showed higher neural dissimilarity under uncertain threat, relative to uncertain reward or no uncertain event across all functionally defined brain networks (Yeo et al, 2011) in both Black and White participants. Greater neural dissimilarity in the threat state was The current behavioral findings add to a growing literature that suggests that exposure to Black faces can impair cognitive control processes and are consistent with findings of heightened behavioral reactivity to Black relative to White racial cues (Amodio et al, 2008;Correll et al, 2002;Payne, 2001;Rubien-Thomas et al, 2021). This study extends our knowledge of race-based reactivity to cues by experimentally manipulating uncertain threat and demonstrating that impulse control to Black faces is greatest under conditions of uncertain threat compared with conditions of no uncertainty or uncertain reward.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Our findings support the notion that race information interferes with goal-directed behavior when individuals anticipate uncertain threat. Previous work shows that negative implicit attitudes toward Black people are associated with altered frontoparietal activity (Brosch et al, 2013;Krill & Platek, 2009;Phelps et al, 2000;Rubien-Thomas et al, 2021) and diminished cognitive control Rubien-Thomas et al, 2021) upon exposure to Black faces. Accordingly, implicit bias may contribute to interference with goal-directed processing in the presence of race information related to stereotype-based threat.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous work has demonstrated the influence of racial category information on multiple neural and cognitive processes. Visual areas, including the fusiform gyrus, show sensitivity to social identities such as race in both the magnitude and spatial patterns of blood oxygenation leveldependent (BOLD) activity in the brain (Contreras et al, 2013;Golby et al, 2001;Natu et al, 2011;Rubien-Thomas et al, 2021). Activity of the fusiform in response to racial as well as other social group information appears to be moderated by relevant racial stereotype information (Xie et al, 2021) with endorsement of social group stereotypes being associated with greater sensitivity in the fusiform gyrus to faces of individuals in that social group (Brosch et al, 2013;Xie et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Uncertain threat is associated with greater impulsive actions and neural dissimilarity to Black versus White faces

Rubien-Thomas

Berrian

Rapuano

et al. 2023

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

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Race is a social construct that contributes to group membership and heightens emotional arousal in intergroup contexts. Little is known about how emotional arousal, specifically uncertain threat, influences behavior and brain processes in response to race information. We investigated the effects of experimentally manipulated uncertain threat on impulsive actions to Black versus White faces in a community sample (n = 106) of Black and White adults. While undergoing fMRI, participants performed an emotional go/no-go task under three conditions of uncertainty: 1) anticipation of an uncertain threat (i.e., unpredictable loud aversive sound); 2) anticipation of an uncertain reward (i.e., unpredictable receipt of money); and 3) no anticipation of an uncertain event. Representational similarity analysis was used to examine the neural representations of race information across functional brain networks between conditions of uncertainty. Participants—regardless of their own race—showed greater impulsivity and neural dissimilarity in response to Black versus White faces across all functional brain networks in conditions of uncertain threat relative to other conditions. This pattern of greater neural dissimilarity under threat was enhanced in individuals with high implicit racial bias. Our results illustrate the distinct and important influence of uncertain threat on global differentiation in how race information is represented in the brain, which may contribute to racially biased behavior.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Uncertain threat is associated with greater impulsive actions and neural dissimilarity to Black versus White faces

Rubien-Thomas

Berrian

Rapuano

et al. 2023

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

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“…Moreover, the study by Fassett‐Carman et al (2022) revealed only a single association between independent SLEs and cortical thickness that survived correction, which was a cluster in lateral orbitofrontal cortex (though this was also detected for dependent SLEs). This region is involved in executing cognitive control within the context of emotion (Kuusinen et al, 2018; Rubien‐Thomas et al, 2021). We have argued that our behavioral measure (CANTAB) may be indexing dorsolateral aspects of EF, while our neural measure (MFTP) may be indexing dorsomedial functions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family‐based care buffers the stress sensitizing effect of early deprivation on executive functioning difficulties in adolescence

et al. 2022

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We examined whether family care following early‐life deprivation buffered the association between stressful life events (SLEs) and executive functioning (EF) in adolescence. In early childhood, 136 institutionally reared children were randomly assigned to foster care or care‐as‐usual; 72 never‐institutionalized children served as a comparison group. At age 16 years, adolescents (n = 143; 54% female; 67.1% Romanian) self‐reported recent SLEs, completed a battery of memory and EF tasks, and completed a go/nogo task in which mediofrontal theta power (MFTP) was measured using electroencephalogram. More independent SLEs predicted lower EF and more dependent SLEs predicted lower MFTP, but only among adolescents with prolonged early deprivation. Findings provide preliminary evidence that family care following early deprivation may facilitate resilience against stress during adolescence on EF.

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“…Consequently, people face personal pressures—due to internal egalitarian values and external social pressures to comply with social norms—to self-monitor and regulate the expression of stereotypes and prejudice (Plant & Devine, 1998). This act of self-regulation to avoid appearing prejudiced has been shown to deplete subsequent cognitive functioning (Richeson et al, 2003; Richeson & Shelton, 2003; Richeson & Trawalter, 2005; Rubien-Thomas et al, 2021; Shelton & Richeson, 2005). For instance, one study found that after an interaction with a Black confederate, White participants performed worse on a subsequent decision-making task (i.e., Stroop task), presumably due to depleted cognitive resources from self-regulation during the preceding interracial interaction (Richeson & Shelton, 2003).…”

Section: The Current Studies: Experimental Paradigm and Predictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stereotypes disrupt probabilistic category learning.

Derreumaux¹,

Elder²,

Suri³

et al. 2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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Racial stereotypes exert pernicious effects on decision-making and behavior, yet little is known about how stereotypes disrupt people's ability to learn new associations. The current research interrogates a fundamental question about the boundary conditions of probabilistic learning by examining whether and how learning is influenced by preexisting associations. Across three experiments, participants learned the probabilistic outcomes of different card combinations based on feedback in either a social (e.g., forecasting crime) or nonsocial (e.g., forecasting weather) learning context. During learning, participants were presented with either task-irrelevant social (i.e., Black or White faces) or nonsocial (i.e., darker or lighter clouds) stimuli that were stereotypically congruent or incongruent with the learning context. Participants exhibited learning disruptions in the social compared to nonsocial learning context, despite repeated instructions that the stimuli were unrelated to the outcome (Studies 1 and 2). We also found no differences in learning disruptions when participants learned in the presence of negatively (Black and criminal) or positively valenced stereotypes (Black and athletic; Study 3). Finally, we tested whether learning decrements were due to “first-order” stereotype application or inhibition at the trial level, or due to “second-order” cognitive load disruptions that accumulate across trials due to fears of appearing prejudiced (aggregated analysis). We found no evidence of first-order disruptions and instead found evidence for second-order disruptions: participants who were more internally motivated to respond without prejudice, and thus more likely to self-monitor their responses, learned less accurately over time. We discuss the implications of the influence of stereotypes on learning and memory.

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Processing of Task-Irrelevant Race Information is Associated with Diminished Cognitive Control in Black and White Individuals

Cited by 5 publications

References 122 publications

Uncertain threat is associated with greater impulsive actions and neural dissimilarity to Black versus White faces

Uncertain threat is associated with greater impulsive actions and neural dissimilarity to Black versus White faces

Family‐based care buffers the stress sensitizing effect of early deprivation on executive functioning difficulties in adolescence

Stereotypes disrupt probabilistic category learning.

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