Degraded perceptual and affective processing of racial out-groups: An electrophysiological approach.
Human beings process perceptual and affective information of racial out-groups in a degraded manner. Relative to racial in-group members, we lack perceptual individuation of racial out-group members and empathize their pain to a less degree. To date, however, the relationship between the deficiency of individuation and the impairment of empathy in responding to racial out-groups remains elusive. By recording event-related brain potentials in response to racial in-group and out-group faces portraying pain and neutral expressions, we simultaneously measured neural activity that underpinned individuation and empathy. Deficiency in individuating members of racial out-groups, manifesting as reduced reactivity of face-sensitive N170 in the occipitotemporal region of the brain, predicted attenuation of fronto-central empathic response to the suffering of racial out-groups. Further, the individuation bias mediated the influence of racial prejudice on racial in-group bias in empathic neural responses. These findings suggest an interplay between degraded perceptual and affective processing of racial out-groups.
a Guanghua School of Management , China.|b Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health , Peking University , Beijing , China.
Feng
F
Sheng
b Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health , Peking University , Beijing , China.
Na
N
Du
b Department of Psychology, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health , Peking University , Beijing , China.
Shihui
S
Han
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D058748:Pain Perception; D063505:Racism / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
Racial in-group bias; empathy; event-related potential; individuation