Real or Artificial? Intergroup Biases in Mind Perception in a Cross-Cultural Perspective

Recent research suggests that attributions of aliveness and mental capacities to faces are influenced by social group membership. In this article, we investigated group related biases in mind perception in participants from a Western and Eastern culture, employing faces of varying ethnic groups. In Experiment 1, Caucasian faces that ranged on a continuum from real to artificial were evaluated by participants in the UK (in-group) and in India (out-group) on animacy, abilities to plan and to feel pain, and having a mind. Human features were found to be assigned to a greater extent to faces when these belonged to in-group members, whereas out-group faces had to appear more realistic in order to be perceived as human. When participants in India evaluated South Asian (in-group) and Caucasian (out-group) faces in Experiment 2, the results closely mirrored those of the first experiment. For both studies, ratings of out-group faces were significantly predicted by participants’ levels of ethnocultural empathy. The findings highlight the role of intergroup processes (i.e., in-group favoritism, out-group dehumanization) in the perception of human and mental qualities and point to ethnocultural empathy as an important factor in responses to out-groups

Emotion expression modulates perception of animacy from faces

Discriminating real human faces from artificial can be achieved quickly and accurately by face-processing networks, but less is known about what stimulus qualities or interindividual differences in the perceiver might influence whether a face is perceived as being alive. In the present studies, morphed stimuli differing in levels of animacy were created. Participants made judgements about whether the face appeared animate at different levels along the morph continuum. The faces varied in terms of emotional expression (happy vs. neutral) and gender. Male faces were judged to be animate at a lower threshold (i.e., closer to the inanimate end of the continuum) than female faces. Animacy was also perceived more readily in faces with happy expressions than neutral. These effects were observed across two separate studies involving different participants and different sets of stimuli (animate faces morphed with dolls or those morphed with computer generated faces). Finally, the influence of interindividual variability in personality traits on animacy perception was examined. This revealed that an externally oriented cognitive style, a component of alexithymia, was associated with lower thresholds for perceiving animacy, for animate faces morphed with dolls. The findings are discussed in relation to inter- and intra-individual variability in animacy perception and social interaction

No matter how real: Out-group faces convey less humanness

Past research on real human faces has shown that out-group members are commonly perceived as lacking human qualities, which links them to machines or objects. In this study, we aimed to test whether similar out-group effects generalize to artificial faces. Caucasian participants were presented with images of male Caucasian and Indian faces and had to decide whether human traits (naturally and uniquely human) as well as emotions (primary and secondary) could or could not be attributed to them. In line with previous research, we found that naturally human traits and secondary emotions were attributed less often to the out-group (Indian) than to the in-group (Caucasian), and this applied to both real and artificial faces. The findings extend prior research and show that artificial stimuli readily evoke intergroup processes. This has implications for the design of animated characters, suggesting that outgroup faces convey less humanness regardless of how life-like their representation is

Emotional Priming and Spontaneous Facial Mimicry of Asian and Caucasian Faces: An Investigation Using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS)

Spontaneous facial mimicry refers to the phenomenon of imitating emotional facial expressions that are seen in other people, without being explicitly told to do so. Deficits in the automatic component of spontaneous facial mimicry are often found in individuals with autism spectrum disorders, leading some researchers to believe that facial mimicry plays a causal role in empathy. The facial feedback hypothesis suggests that imitating the muscle configuration of another individual’s face activates neural circuits for underlying emotions associated with that expression. Previous studies have found an important role for attention, as well as a facilitating effect of affinity for the target individual, when predicting rates of facial mimicry. The goal of the current study was to investigate the effect of explicit motivation on rates of facial mimicry. Participants viewed a series of videos of Asian or Caucasian individuals expressing three emotional facial expressions, and for each the participants were primed beforehand with either the question How old is this person? or How does this person feel? which the participants answered after viewing the video clip. Facial mimicry, as measured using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), was found to occur significantly more often when participants were explicitly instructed to infer the target individual’s emotion. This suggests that they were using facial mimicry as a tool to understand emotions—supporting the facial-feedback hypothesis. Participant ethnicity did not have any effect, suggesting further evidence for the universality of facial mimicry and its utility. Participants mimicked Asian target faces to a greater degree than White target faces, which may be explained by a distinctiveness effect for minority faces. KEYWORDS: facial expression, FACS, social cognition, emotion, empath

When humans become objects: Out-group effects in real and artificial faces

Out-group members are commonly viewed as being less human than in-group members. They are deniedcertain human characteristics and in turn become associated with machines or automata. Specifically, out-groups are attributedless naturally and uniquely human traits, and they are also seen as being less able to experience complex emotions in comparison to the in-group. Such dissociations have been demonstrated with real human faces but in our study, we aimed to test whether similar effects generalize to their artificial versions. Caucasian participants were presented with images of male Caucasian and Indian faces. Their task was to evaluate to what extent naturally and uniquely human traits, as well as primary and secondary emotions, can be attributed to them. In line with previous research, it was found that positive naturally human traits were attributed to a greater degree to the in-group than to the outgroup, applying to both real and artificial faces. Moreover,negative naturally human traits and negative primary emotions were attributed more to the out-group. This indicates a positive bias towards the in-group and subtle out-group derogation. The results extend prior research based on real human faces and show that intergroup processes emerge similarly in response to artificial faces, which may have implications for the fields of computer graphics and animation. That is, even the most realistic face recognized as belonging to an out-group member may convey less humanness than that of an in-group member

Distinguishing Self from Other in Vicarious Perception of Touch and Pain

Vicarious perception describes our ability to co-represent the experiences of others, by matching observed states onto representations of our own experience. For instance, seeing another person feel touch or pain elicits activity in regions associated with first-hand touch and pain sensation, including somatosensory cortices. Vicarious touch and pain perception is thought to facilitate complex social processes such as empathy, and also shows substantial inter-individual variability. For a minority of people, a physical sensation of touch (mirror-touch synaesthesia) or pain (conscious vicarious pain) is felt on their own body when observing someone experience the same sensation. Current theory suggests increased excitability in somatosensory cortices may underlie conscious vicarious experience. Recently, broader impairments in self-other distinction have also been implicated. This thesis first attempted to modulate vicarious tactile perception with transcranial current stimulation targeted at somatosensory cortices or the right temporo-parietal junction (linked to self-other control). A lack of modulation provided minimal support for either somatosensory excitability or self-other distinction accounts. Behaviourally, conscious vicarious pain responders and control participants did not significantly differ in self-other control abilities. Additional self-other distinction processes (beyond self-other control) were next considered. This revealed atypical bodily self-awareness in conscious vicarious pain responders. Lastly, perception of animacy was modulated by stimulus and perceiver variability, but did not significantly differ between mirror-touch synaesthetes and controls, providing implications for vicarious perception from inanimate stimuli. Collectively, this thesis highlights broader impairments involved in conscious vicarious perception, and the importance of the sense of bodily self-awareness for social perception and interaction in typical adults

How culture shapes social cognition deficits in mental disorders. A review

Social cognitive skills are indispensable for successful communication with others. Substantial research has determined deficits in these abilities in patients with mental disorders. In neurobiological development and continuing into adulthood, cross-cultural differences in social cognition have been demonstrated. Moreover, symptomatic patterns in mental disorders may vary according to the cultural background of an individual. Cross-cultural studies can thus help in understanding underlying (biological) mechanisms and factors that influence behavior in health and disease. In addition, studies that apply novel paradigms assessing the impact of culture on cognition may benefit and advance neuroscience research. In this review, the authors give an overview of cross-cultural research in the field of social cognition in health and in mental disorders and provide an outlook on future research directions, taking a neuroscience perspective.Action Contro

Two of the Same? Infants\u27 Conceptual Representation of Faces Based Upon Gender, Race, and Kind Information

Infants’ perceptual abilities allow them to distinguish faces of different races and genders from an early age (for a review, see Pascalis et al., 2011). However, it is still unknown when infants begin using these perceptual differences to represent faces in a conceptual, kind-based manner. The current dissertation examined this issue by testing whether 12- and 24-month-old infants represent faces of different races and genders as distinct ‘kinds’ or instead as variations of a single broader category (e.g., ‘human face’). The current dissertation included two experiments each with a different type of violation-of-expectation individuation paradigm. Experiment 1 used a passive viewing looking-time measure to establish infants’ baseline response to human- vs. non-human faces as well as their response to male versus female faces. Results from Experiment 1 replicated previous looking time measures and found evidence that 12-month-old infants have a representation for an ontological or ‘human’ kind. Using a manual search paradigm, infants’ face individuation based on gender and race was assessed in Experiment 2. Twenty-four-month-old infants, but not younger infants, displayed reaching behaviors that indicated they individuated faces based on the kind ‘human’ as well as face gender. There was no evidence of individuation based on a face’s race group. The current findings help to determine how infants begin to conceptually represent gender and race differences as identity-defining variations that might serve as a starting point for socio-cognitive biases observed later in development

“Trans broken arm syndrome”: Examining causal antecedents of gender-related medical misattribution and invasive questioning in an analogous healthcare setting through the lens of person perception

Transgender individuals face particular challenges when interacting with a cisgender focused medical system. Gender-related medical misattribution and invasive questioning (GRMMIQ), colloquially known by the tongue-in-cheek named “trans broken arm syndrome,” is a form of medical discrimination wherein a healthcare provider assumes that a transgender patient’s medical complaints, regardless of origin, result from their gender identity or medical transition. Previous research has suggested that this, and other forms of identity-related discrimination both in and outside of healthcare, might be understood either using a top-down approach focused on stereotypes founded in schema, or a bottom-up approach examining perceived typicality. One additional theory, the Dynamic Interactive Theory of Person Construal, suggests that top-down and bottom-up processing approaches occur in a rapid and interactive fashion. Exploring GRMMIQIQ through multiple lenses, as through the Dynamic Interactive Theory of Person Construal, might allow for not only a greater understanding of the causal antecedents of GRMMIQIQ experiences, but also a greater understanding of how these theoretical frameworks may function and may be leveraged to understand real world circumstances. Study 1a used the reverse correlation (RC) technique to generate unique classification images (CIs) reflecting average mental representations of Black and White, transgender and cisgender women. Participants (N=198) completed the RC procedure which was then used to develop CI images for study 1b. In study 1b, CI images were categorized as “cisgender” or “transgender” and rated by US based participants (N = 201) on multiple dimensions. While participants reliably categorized cisgender CIs as “cisgender,” transgender CIs were not reliably categorized as “transgender.” Study 2 follows this by using a point of subjective equality (PSE) person perception framework to explore how varying degrees of perceived gender atypicality in digitally modified visual stimuli might yield transgender identity status categorization. Participants (N=152) classified 22 digitally morphed images as either cisgender or transgender in a two-interval forced choice task. Images that crossed the PSE threshold (i.e., images that had a greater than 50% likelihood of being classified as “transgender”) and had the highest likelihood of being classified as “transgender” were used as the “perceived transgender” stimuli in study 3, while the corresponding base images were used as the “perceived cisgender” stimuli. Study 3 recruited students who were in healthcare training programs that could yield a diagnostic professional position (i.e., MD, DO, NP, and PA programs; N=103). Participants were then presented with a standardized acute care vignette reflecting a woman experiencing symptoms consistent with a closed, isolated fracture of the medial malleolus (i.e., a type of ankle fracture), one of the four visual stimuli, and one of two medical histories. In a four-minute period, participants read the scenario, and provided a diagnosis, their perspectives as to the causal antecedents of this diagnosis, and any further questions they might like answered. Medication consistent with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was listed and standardized in all conditions. Responses were coded for the presence of GRMMIQ as it related to HRT. The impact of target race, visual gender typicality, and explicit gender identity on invasive questioning and medical misattribution was assessed using a multiple linear regression approach. While all overall models were non-significant, several potential explanations, including a lack of power, may have attributed to these findings. Overall, invasive questioning was noted in the responses from 9 participants (8.8%), while potential or explicit medical misattribution related to HRT was noted in in the responses from 20 participants (19.6%). Taken together, results from all three studies suggest that categorization and perception of transgender individuals is significantly more complex and nuanced than categorization of other groups. Future research should extend the results on transgender perception and categorization, while also exploring other potential avenues by which GRMMIQ may occur