Not Only Whites: Racial Priming Effect for Black Faces in Black People

Stimulus Inversion and Emotional Expressions Independently Affect Face and Body Perception: An ERP Study

Faces and bodies provide critical cues for social interaction and communication. Their structural encoding depends on configural processing, as suggested by the detrimental effect of stimulus inversion for both faces (i.e., face inversion effect - FIE) and bodies (body inversion effect - BIE). An occipito-temporal negative event-related potential (ERP) component peaking around 170 ms after stimulus onset (N170) is consistently elicited by human faces and bodies and is affected by the inversion of these stimuli. Albeit it is known that emotional expressions can boost structural encoding (resulting in larger N170 components for emotional than for neutral faces), little is known about body emotional expressions. Thus, the current study investigated the effects of different emotional expressions on structural encoding in combination with FIE and BIE. Three ERP components (P1, N170, P2) were recorded using a 128-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) when participants were presented with (upright and inverted) faces and bodies conveying four possible emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear) or no emotion (neutral). Results demonstrated that inversion and emotional expressions independently affected the Accuracy and amplitude of all ERP components (P1, N170, P2). In particular, faces showed specific effects of emotional expressions during the structural encoding stage (N170), while P2 amplitude (representing top-down conceptualisation) was modified by emotional body perception. Moreover, the task performed by participants (i.e., implicit vs. explicit processing of emotional information) differently influenced Accuracy and ERP components. These results support integrated theories of visual perception, thus speaking in favour of the functional independence of the two neurocognitive pathways (one for structural encoding and one for emotional expression analysis) involved in social stimuli processing. Results are discussed highlighting the neurocognitive and computational advantages of the independence between the two pathways.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Bystander CPR for Witnessed Cardiac Arrest

BACKGROUND

Differences in the incidence of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) provided by bystanders contribute to survival disparities among persons with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. It is critical to understand whether the incidence of bystander CPR in witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrests at home and in public settings differs according to the race or ethnic group of the person with cardiac arrest in order to inform interventions.

METHODS

Within a large U.S. registry, we identified 110,054 witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrests during the period from 2013 through 2019. We used a hierarchical logistic regression model to analyze the incidence of bystander CPR in Black or Hispanic persons as compared with White persons with witnessed cardiac arrests at home and in public locations. We analyzed the overall incidence as well as the incidence according to neighborhood racial or ethnic makeup and income strata. Neighborhoods were classified as predominantly White (>80% of residents), majority Black or Hispanic (>50% of residents), or integrated, and as high income (an annual median household income of >$80,000), middle income ($40,000-$80,000), or low income (<$40,000).

RESULTS

Overall, 35,469 of the witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (32.2%) occurred in Black or Hispanic persons. Black and Hispanic persons were less likely to receive bystander CPR at home (38.5%) than White persons (47.4%) (adjusted odds ratio, 0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72 to 0.76) and less likely to receive bystander CPR in public locations than White persons (45.6% vs. 60.0%) (adjusted odds ratio, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.66). The incidence of bystander CPR among Black and Hispanic persons was less than that among White persons not only in predominantly White neighborhoods at home (adjusted odds ratio, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.90) and in public locations (adjusted odds ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.75) but also in majority Black or Hispanic neighborhoods at home (adjusted odds ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.75 to 0.83) and in public locations (adjusted odds ratio, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.59 to 0.68) and in integrated neighborhoods at home (adjusted odds ratio, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.81) and in public locations (adjusted odds ratio, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.77). Similarly, across all neighborhood income strata, the frequency of bystander CPR at home and in public locations was lower among Black and Hispanic persons with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest than among White persons.

CONCLUSIONS

In witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, Black and Hispanic persons were less likely than White persons to receive potentially lifesaving bystander CPR at home and in public locations, regardless of the racial or ethnic makeup or income level of the neighborhood where the cardiac arrest occurred. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.).

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) eliminates the other-race effect (ORE) indexed by the face inversion effect for own versus other-race faces

We investigate here individuals’ reduced ability to recognise faces from other racial backgrounds, a robust phenomenon named the other-race effect (ORE). In this literature the term “race” is used to refer to visually distinct ethnic groups. In our study, we will refer to two of such groups: Western Caucasian (also known as White European) and East Asian e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Korean. This study applied the tDCS procedure (double-blind, 10 min duration, 1.5 mA intensity, targeting Fp3 location), developed in the perceptual learning literature, specifically used to remove the expertise component of the face inversion effect (FIE), which consists of higher recognition performance for upright than inverted faces. In the tDCS-sham condition (N = 48) we find a robust ORE i.e., significantly larger FIE for own versus other-race faces due to higher performance for upright own-race faces. Critically, in the anodal-tDCS condition (N = 48) the FIE for own-race faces was significantly reduced compared to sham due to impaired performance for upright faces thus eliminating the cross-race interaction index of the ORE. Our results support the major role that perceptual expertise, manifesting through perceptual learning, has in determining the ORE indexed by the FIE.

Experimental sleep loss, racial bias, and the decision criterion to shoot in the Police Officer's Dilemma task

Violent behavior, police brutality, and racial discrimination are currently at the forefront of society’s attention, and they should be. We investigated whether mild sleep loss—as typical for many adults throughout the work week—could aggravate the socio-emotional-cognitive processes contributing to violence and discrimination. In a sample of 40 healthy young adults, we either experimentally restricted participants’ sleep for four nights (6.2 h/night) or let participants obtain normal sleep (7.7 h/night)—and then had them complete the Police Officer’s Dilemma Task. In this computerized task, the participant must rapidly decide to shoot or not shoot at White and Black men who either are or are not holding a gun. Results showed significant racial biases, including more and quicker shooting of Black targets compared to White targets. Furthermore, signal detection analyses demonstrated that mild sleep restriction changed participants’ decision criterion, increasing the tendency to shoot, even when controlling for psychomotor vigilance, fluid intelligence, and self-reported desirability to behave in a socially acceptable manner. The increased tendency to shoot was also observed in participants who reported believing that they had adapted to the sleep loss. Future experimental research using trained police officers will help establish the generalizability of these laboratory effects. Importantly, sleep loss is modifiable via organization-level changes (e.g., shift scheduling, light entrainment) and individual-level interventions (e.g., sleep hygiene education, incentives for behavioral change), suggesting that if sleep loss is corrected, it could save lives—including Black lives.

Lions, and Tigers, and Implicit Measures, Oh My! Implicit Assessment and the Valence vs. Threat Distinction

Physically threatening objects are negative, but negative objects are not necessarily threatening. Moreover, responses elicited by threats to physical harm are distinct from those elicited by other negatively (and positively) valenced stimuli. We discuss the importance of the threat versus valence distinction for implicit measurement both in terms of the activated evaluation and the design of the measure employed to assess that evaluation. We suggest that accounting for the distinct evaluations of threat and valence better enables implicit measures to provide understanding and prediction of subsequent judgment, emotion, and behavior.