Uncertain threat is associated with greater impulsive actions and neural dissimilarity to Black versus White faces

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Estée Rubien-Thomas, Yale University; Nia Berrian, University of Chicago; Kristina M Rapuano, Yale University; Lena J JSkalaban, Yale University; Alessandra Cervera, Columbia University; Binyam Nardos, Washington University; Alexandra O Cohen, Emory University; Ariel Lowrey, Yale University; Natalie M Daumeyer, Yale University; Richard Watts, Yale University; Nicholas P Camp, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Brent L Hughes, University of California, Riverside; Jennifer L Eberhardt, Stanford University; Kim A Taylor-Thompson, New York University; Damien A Fair, Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain; Jennifer A Richeson, Yale University; BJ Casey, Yale University
• Language: English
• Date: 2023-06-01
• Publisher: SPRINGER
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2023
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13415-022-01056-2
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 944
• End Page: 956
• Keywords: Brain; Race; Threat; Cognitive control; Implicit bias; Uncertainty
• Research Categories: Psychology, Behavioral; Biology, Neuroscience; Psychology, Clinical; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

Race is a social construct that contributes to group membership and heightens emotional arousal in intergroup contexts. Little is known about how emotional arousal, specifically uncertain threat, influences behavior and brain processes in response to race information. We investigated the effects of experimentally manipulated uncertain threat on impulsive actions to Black versus White faces in a community sample (n = 106) of Black and White adults. While undergoing fMRI, participants performed an emotional go/no-go task under three conditions of uncertainty: 1) anticipation of an uncertain threat (i.e., unpredictable loud aversive sound); 2) anticipation of an uncertain reward (i.e., unpredictable receipt of money); and 3) no anticipation of an uncertain event. Representational similarity analysis was used to examine the neural representations of race information across functional brain networks between conditions of uncertainty. Participants—regardless of their own race—showed greater impulsivity and neural dissimilarity in response to Black versus White faces across all functional brain networks in conditions of uncertain threat relative to other conditions. This pattern of greater neural dissimilarity under threat was enhanced in individuals with high implicit racial bias. Our results illustrate the distinct and important influence of uncertain threat on global differentiation in how race information is represented in the brain, which may contribute to racially biased behavior.