Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
Department of Humanities Studies, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy.
PLoS One. 2022 Jul 27;17(7):e0271748. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271748. eCollection 2022.
In this study, we adapted a race-Implicit Association Test (race-IAT) to mouse-tracking (MT) technique to identify the more representative target observed MT-metrics and explore the temporal unfolding of the cognitive conflict emerging during the categorisation task. Participants of Western European descent performed a standard keyboard-response race-IAT (RT-race-IAT) and an MT-race-IAT with the same structure. From a behavioural point of view, our sample showed a typical Congruency Effect, thus a pro-White implicit bias, in the RT-race-IAT. In addition, in the MT-race-IAT, the MT-metrics showed a similar Congruency Effect mirroring the higher attraction of the averaged-trajectories towards the incorrect response button in incongruent than congruent trials. Moreover, these MT-metrics were positively associated with RT-race-IAT scores, strengthening the MT approach's validity in characterising the implicit bias. Furthermore, the distributional analyses showed that mouse trajectories displayed a smooth profile both in congruent and incongruent trials to indicate that the unfolding of the decision process and the raised conflict is guided by dynamical cognitive processing. This latter continuous competition process was studied using a novel phase-based approach which allowed to temporally dissect an Early, a Mid and a Late phase, each of which may differently reflect the decision conflict between automatic and controlled responses in the evolution of the mouse movement towards the target response. Our results show that the MT approach provides an accurate and finer-grained characterisation of the implicit racial attitude than classical RT-IAT. Finally, our novel phase-based approach can be an effective tool to shed light on the implicit conflict processing emerging in a categorisation task with a promising transferable value in different cognitive and neuropsychological fields.
在这项研究中，我们改编了一个种族内隐联想测试（race-IAT），使其适应鼠标追踪（MT）技术，以确定更具代表性的目标观察 MT 指标，并探索在分类任务中出现的认知冲突的时间展开。具有西欧血统的参与者执行了标准的键盘反应种族内隐联想测试（RT-race-IAT）和具有相同结构的 MT-race-IAT。从行为学的角度来看，我们的样本在 RT-race-IAT 中表现出典型的一致性效应，即对白人的隐性偏见。此外，在 MT-race-IAT 中，MT 指标显示出类似的一致性效应，反映了在不一致试次中平均轨迹对错误反应按钮的吸引力高于一致试次。此外，这些 MT 指标与 RT-race-IAT 得分呈正相关，增强了 MT 方法在描述隐性偏见方面的有效性。此外，分布分析表明，鼠标轨迹在一致和不一致试次中都显示出平滑的轮廓，表明决策过程的展开和冲突的加剧是由动态认知处理引导的。使用一种新的基于相位的方法研究了这个连续竞争过程，该方法允许从时间上剖析早期、中期和晚期三个阶段，每个阶段可能反映出在鼠标向目标反应移动的过程中，自动和受控反应之间的决策冲突的不同方面。我们的结果表明，MT 方法比传统的 RT-IAT 更准确、更细致地描述了隐性种族态度。最后，我们的新的基于相位的方法可以成为一种有效的工具，揭示在分类任务中出现的隐性冲突处理，具有在不同认知和神经心理学领域中具有有前景的可转移性价值。
