Schiller Bastian, Gianotti Lorena R R, Baumgartner Thomas, Nash Kyle, Koenig Thomas, Knoch Daria
Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, DE-79104, Freiburg, Germany; Institute of Psychology, Department of Social Psychology and Social Neuroscience, University of Bern, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland; Department of Psychology, Social and Affective Neuroscience, University of Basel, CH-4055, Basel, Switzerland;
Institute of Psychology, Department of Social Psychology and Social Neuroscience, University of Bern, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland; Department of Psychology, Social and Affective Neuroscience, University of Basel, CH-4055, Basel, Switzerland; Center for Cognition, Learning and Memory, University of Bern, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland;
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Mar 8;113(10):2786-91. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1515828113. Epub 2016 Feb 22.
Why do people take longer to associate the word "love" with outgroup words (incongruent condition) than with ingroup words (congruent condition)? Despite the widespread use of the implicit association test (IAT), it has remained unclear whether this IAT effect is due to additional mental processes in the incongruent condition, or due to longer duration of the same processes. Here, we addressed this previously insoluble issue by assessing the spatiotemporal evolution of brain electrical activity in 83 participants. From stimulus presentation until response production, we identified seven processes. Crucially, all seven processes occurred in the same temporal sequence in both conditions, but participants needed more time to perform one early occurring process (perceptual processing) and one late occurring process (implementing cognitive control to select the motor response) in the incongruent compared with the congruent condition. We also found that the latter process contributed to individual differences in implicit bias. These results advance understanding of the neural mechanics of response time differences in the IAT: They speak against theories that explain the IAT effect as due to additional processes in the incongruent condition and speak in favor of theories that assume a longer duration of specific processes in the incongruent condition. More broadly, our data analysis approach illustrates the potential of electrical neuroimaging to illuminate the temporal organization of mental processes involved in social cognition.
为什么人们将“爱”这个词与外群体词汇（不一致条件）联系起来比与内群体词汇（一致条件）联系起来花费的时间更长？尽管内隐联想测验（IAT）被广泛使用，但尚不清楚这种IAT效应是由于在不一致条件下存在额外的心理过程，还是由于相同过程持续时间更长。在这里，我们通过评估83名参与者大脑电活动的时空演变来解决这个以前无法解决的问题。从刺激呈现到反应产生，我们识别出了七个过程。至关重要的是，在两种条件下，所有七个过程都以相同的时间顺序发生，但与一致条件相比，参与者在不一致条件下需要更多时间来执行一个早期发生的过程（感知处理）和一个晚期发生的过程（实施认知控制以选择运动反应）。我们还发现，后一个过程导致了内隐偏见的个体差异。这些结果推进了对IAT中反应时间差异的神经机制的理解：它们反驳了将IAT效应解释为由于不一致条件下存在额外过程的理论，并支持假设不一致条件下特定过程持续时间更长的理论。更广泛地说，我们的数据分析方法说明了电神经成像在阐明社会认知中所涉及的心理过程的时间组织方面的潜力。
