The fragility of intergroup relations: Divergent effects of delayed audio-visual feedback in intergroup and intragroup interactions

ABSTRACT-Intergroup interactions between racial or ethnic majority and minority groups are often stressful for members of both groups; however, the dynamic processes that promote or alleviate tension in intergroup interaction remain poorly understood. Here we identify a behavioral mechanism-response delay-that can uniquely contribute to anxiety and promote disengagement from intergroup contact. Minimally acquainted White, Black, and Latino participants engaged in intergroup or intragroup dyadic conversation either in real time or with a subtle temporal disruption (1-s delay) in audiovisual feedback. Whereas intergroup dyads reported greater anxiety and less interest in contact after engaging in delayed conversation than after engaging in real-time conversation, intragroup dyads reported less anxiety in the delay condition than they did after interacting in real time. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for understanding intergroup communication and social dynamics and for promoting positive intergroup contact

Toward using more ecologically valid emotion displays in brain research: A functional neuroimaging study of the Communication of Affect Receiving Ability Test

This research used spontaneously generated, dynamic emotion displays in an experimental task for brain imaging, and produced theoretically meaningful results in the limbic system and right hemisphere neocortical areas associated with action simulation. The Communication of Affect Receiving Ability Test (CARAT), an instrument that consists of 40 ten-second videos of senders displaying four different types of affect, was given to 38 subjects in the fMRI scanner. Subjects were asked to judge if the sender was viewing someone familiar, something scenic, something unpleasant, or something unusual. Results of a conjunction analysis of hemodynamic responses to the four categories versus a resting baseline showed that there was activation of limbic system circuits in the amygdala-hippocampal area, insula, and anterior cingulate for all categories, as well as right hemisphere activation in the temporal-parietal junction and premotor area/inferior frontal gyrus. Results also showed that when the neutral category (Scenic) was subtracted from the Familiar, Unpleasant, and Unusual categories, there were distinct patterns of limbic system and neocortical activation unique to each. The discussion considers how these patterns of activation add to what is currently known about the way the brain processes emotion displays, and how the use of a more naturalistic display may have influenced the results. Implications for future research on empathy are reviewed.

Toward using more ecologically valid emotion displays in brain research: A functional neuroimaging study of the Communication of Affect Receiving Ability Test

This research used spontaneously generated, dynamic emotion displays in an experimental task for brain imaging, and produced theoretically meaningful results in the limbic system and right hemisphere neocortical areas associated with action simulation. The Communication of Affect Receiving Ability Test (CARAT), an instrument that consists of 40 ten-second videos of senders displaying four different types of affect, was given to 38 subjects in the fMRI scanner. Subjects were asked to judge if the sender was viewing someone familiar, something scenic, something unpleasant, or something unusual. Results of a conjunction analysis of hemodynamic responses to the four categories versus a resting baseline showed that there was activation of limbic system circuits in the amygdala-hippocampal area, insula, and anterior cingulate for all categories, as well as right hemisphere activation in the temporal-parietal junction and premotor area/inferior frontal gyrus. Results also showed that when the neutral category (Scenic) was subtracted from the Familiar, Unpleasant, and Unusual categories, there were distinct patterns of limbic system and neocortical activation unique to each. The discussion considers how these patterns of activation add to what is currently known about the way the brain processes emotion displays, and how the use of a more naturalistic display may have influenced the results. Implications for future research on empathy are reviewed.