Study links brain function to feelings toward races - thestar.com
10-05-06 8:31 PM
Thursday, May 6, 2010 Toronto Edition
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Study links brain function to feelings toward races
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Published On Mon Apr 26 2010
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The Canadian Press
New Canadian research suggests that the brain fires differently when dealing with people
of a different race and ethnicity.
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Previous research has shown that people are less likely to feel connected to people outside
their own ethnic groups, so scientists at the University of Toronto Scarborough set out to
find out why.
Jennifer Gutsell, a doctorate student and co-author of the study, says they found that there
is a basic difference in the way peopleʼs brains react to those from other ethnic
backgrounds.
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Observing someone of a different race produces significantly less motor-cortex activity than
observing a person of oneʼs own race.
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summer
The trend is even more pronounced for participants who scored high on a test measuring
subtle racism, says Gutsell.
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The research explored the sensitivity of the “mirror-neuron-system” to race and ethnicity.
Assistant professor Dr. Michael Inzlicht says the so-called mirror-neuron-system is thought
to be an important building block for empathy by allowing people to "mirror" other peopleʼs
actions and emotions.
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The researchers had participants view a series of videos
while hooked up to electroencephalograms.
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The participants — who were all white — watched simple
videos in which men of different races picked up a glass and took a sip of water.
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They watched white, black, South Asian and East Asian men perform the simple task.
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Typically, when people observe others perform a simple task, their motor cortex region fires
similarly to when they are performing the task themselves.
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http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/800972--study-links-brain-function-to-feelings-toward-races
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Study links brain function to feelings toward races - thestar.com
10-05-06 8:31 PM
However, the researchers found that participantsʼ motor cortex was significantly less likely
to fire when they watched the visible minority men perform the simple task.
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In some cases when participants watched the non-white men performing the task, their
brains actually registered as little activity as when they watched a blank screen.
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Their study was published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
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