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Cardiac afferent activity modulates the expression of racial stereotypes

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posted on 2023-06-09, 06:23 authored by Ruben T Azevedo, Sarah Garfinkel, Hugo CritchleyHugo Critchley, Manos Tsakiris
Negative racial stereotypes tend to associate Black people with threat. This often leads to the misidentification of harmless objects as weapons held by a Black individual. Yet, little is known about how bodily states impact the expression of racial stereotyping. By tapping into the phasic activation of arterial baroreceptors, known to be associated with changes in the neural processing of fearful stimuli, we show activation of race-threat stereotypes synchronized with the cardiovascular cycle. Across two established tasks, stimuli depicting Black or White individuals were presented to coincide with either the cardiac systole or diastole. Results show increased race-driven misidentification of weapons during systole, when baroreceptor afferent firing is maximal, relative to diastole. Importantly, a third study examining the positive Black-athletic stereotypical association fails to demonstrate similar modulations by cardiac cycle. We identify a body–brain interaction wherein interoceptive cues can modulate threat appraisal and racially biased behaviour in context-dependent ways.

Funding

Cardiac control of fear in brain; G1120; EUROPEAN UNION; 324150 CCFIB

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Nature Communications

ISSN

2041-1723

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Volume

8

Article number

a13854

Department affiliated with

  • BSMS Neuroscience Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-05-24

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-05-24

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-05-24

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    University of Sussex (Publications)

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