title: Reducing Prejudice Through Brain Stimulation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Social categorization and group identification are essential ingredients for maintaining a positive self-image that often lead to negative, implicit stereotypes toward members of an out-group. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) may be a critical component in counteracting stereotypes activation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Here, we assessed the causal role of the mPFC in these processes by non-invasive brain stimulation via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants (n = 60) were randomly and equally assigned to receive anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation over the mPFC while performing an Implicit Association Test (IAT): They were instructed to categorize in-group and out-group names and positive and negative attributes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Anodal excitability-enhancing stimulation decreased implicit biased attitudes toward out-group members compared to excitability-diminishing cathodal and sham stimulation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results provide evidence for a critical role of the mPFC in counteracting stereotypes activation. Furthermore, our results are consistent with previous findings showing that increasing cognitive control may overcome negative bias toward members of social out-groups.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Psychology Unit & Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: r.sellaro@fsw.leidenuniv.nl.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sellaro
authors.affiliation: Social and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Belle
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Derks
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nitsche
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Psychology Unit & Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hommel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam Brain & Cognition ABC., University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wery P M
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: van den Wildenberg
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Psychology Unit & Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: van Dam
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Psychology Unit & Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lorenza S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Colzato
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011287:Prejudice; D011897:Random Allocation; D013240:Stereotyping; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
keywords: Cognitive control; Implicit Association Test; Implicit bias; Medial prefrontal cortex; Stereotype; Transcranial direct current stimulation