Learning positive social information reduces racial bias as indexed by N400 response.

The present study used EEG/ERPs to detect the activation of implicit stereotypical representations associated to other-race (OR) people and the modulation of such activation through the previous presentation of positive vs. neutral social information. Electrophysiological signals were recorded in 40...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Alessandra Brusa, Antonia Pesič, Alice Mado Proverbio
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/c1700907b105410abdd0fe07bfa3334a
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:c1700907b105410abdd0fe07bfa3334a
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:c1700907b105410abdd0fe07bfa3334a2021-12-02T20:16:07ZLearning positive social information reduces racial bias as indexed by N400 response.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0260540https://doaj.org/article/c1700907b105410abdd0fe07bfa3334a2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260540https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203The present study used EEG/ERPs to detect the activation of implicit stereotypical representations associated to other-race (OR) people and the modulation of such activation through the previous presentation of positive vs. neutral social information. Electrophysiological signals were recorded in 40 Italian Caucasian participants, unaware of the overall study's purpose. They were presented with 285 sentences that could either violate, non-violate (e.g., "the Roma girl was involved in a robbery) or be neutral with regard to stereotypical concepts concerning other-race people (e.g. Asians, Africans, Arabic). ERPs were time-locked to the terminal words. Prior to the sentence reading task, participants were exposed to a 10 minutes colourful video documentary. While the experimental group was presented a video containing images picturing other-race characters involved in "prestigious" activities that violated stereotypical negative assumptions (e.g. a black neurosurgeon leading a surgery team), the control group viewed a neutral documentary about flora and fauna. EEG signals were then recorded during the sentence reading task to explore whether the previous exposure to the experimental video could modulate the detection of incongruence in the sentences violating stereotypes, as marked by the N400 response. A fictitious task was adopted, consisted in detecting rare animal names. Indeed, only the control group showed a greater N400 response (350-550 ms) to words incongruent with ethnic stereotypes compared to congruent and neutral ones, thus suggesting the presence of a racial bias. No N400 response was found for the experimental group, suggesting a lack of negative expectation for OR individuals. The swLORETA inverse solution, performed on the prejudice-related N400 showed that the Inferior Temporal and the Superior and Middle Frontal Gyri were the strongest N400 intra-cortical sources. Regardless of the experimental manipulation, Congruent terminal words evoked a greater P300 response (500-600 ms) compared to incongruent and neutral ones and a late frontal positivity (650-800 ms) was found to be larger to sentences involving OR than own-race characters (either congruent or incongruent with the prejudice) thus possibly indicating bias-free perceptual in-group/out-group categorization processes. The data showed how it is possible to modulate a pre-existing racial prejudice (as reflected by N400 effect) through exposure to positive media-driven information about OR people. Further follow-up studies should determine the duration in time, and across contexts, of this modulatory effect.Alessandra BrusaAntonia PesičAlice Mado ProverbioPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 11, p e0260540 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Alessandra Brusa Antonia Pesič Alice Mado Proverbio Learning positive social information reduces racial bias as indexed by N400 response.
description	The present study used EEG/ERPs to detect the activation of implicit stereotypical representations associated to other-race (OR) people and the modulation of such activation through the previous presentation of positive vs. neutral social information. Electrophysiological signals were recorded in 40 Italian Caucasian participants, unaware of the overall study's purpose. They were presented with 285 sentences that could either violate, non-violate (e.g., "the Roma girl was involved in a robbery) or be neutral with regard to stereotypical concepts concerning other-race people (e.g. Asians, Africans, Arabic). ERPs were time-locked to the terminal words. Prior to the sentence reading task, participants were exposed to a 10 minutes colourful video documentary. While the experimental group was presented a video containing images picturing other-race characters involved in "prestigious" activities that violated stereotypical negative assumptions (e.g. a black neurosurgeon leading a surgery team), the control group viewed a neutral documentary about flora and fauna. EEG signals were then recorded during the sentence reading task to explore whether the previous exposure to the experimental video could modulate the detection of incongruence in the sentences violating stereotypes, as marked by the N400 response. A fictitious task was adopted, consisted in detecting rare animal names. Indeed, only the control group showed a greater N400 response (350-550 ms) to words incongruent with ethnic stereotypes compared to congruent and neutral ones, thus suggesting the presence of a racial bias. No N400 response was found for the experimental group, suggesting a lack of negative expectation for OR individuals. The swLORETA inverse solution, performed on the prejudice-related N400 showed that the Inferior Temporal and the Superior and Middle Frontal Gyri were the strongest N400 intra-cortical sources. Regardless of the experimental manipulation, Congruent terminal words evoked a greater P300 response (500-600 ms) compared to incongruent and neutral ones and a late frontal positivity (650-800 ms) was found to be larger to sentences involving OR than own-race characters (either congruent or incongruent with the prejudice) thus possibly indicating bias-free perceptual in-group/out-group categorization processes. The data showed how it is possible to modulate a pre-existing racial prejudice (as reflected by N400 effect) through exposure to positive media-driven information about OR people. Further follow-up studies should determine the duration in time, and across contexts, of this modulatory effect.
format	article
author	Alessandra Brusa Antonia Pesič Alice Mado Proverbio
author_facet	Alessandra Brusa Antonia Pesič Alice Mado Proverbio
author_sort	Alessandra Brusa
title	Learning positive social information reduces racial bias as indexed by N400 response.
title_short	Learning positive social information reduces racial bias as indexed by N400 response.
title_full	Learning positive social information reduces racial bias as indexed by N400 response.
title_fullStr	Learning positive social information reduces racial bias as indexed by N400 response.
title_full_unstemmed	Learning positive social information reduces racial bias as indexed by N400 response.
title_sort	learning positive social information reduces racial bias as indexed by n400 response.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/c1700907b105410abdd0fe07bfa3334a
work_keys_str_mv	AT alessandrabrusa learningpositivesocialinformationreducesracialbiasasindexedbyn400response AT antoniapesic learningpositivesocialinformationreducesracialbiasasindexedbyn400response AT alicemadoproverbio learningpositivesocialinformationreducesracialbiasasindexedbyn400response
_version_	1718374549854093312

Learning positive social information reduces racial bias as indexed by N400 response.

Ejemplares similares