CAREER: Neural Mechanisms of Stereotypic Vision

Through cultural learning, people develop simplified associations (stereotypes) about different types of people and social categories (e.g., race, gender, age). We may not agree with these stereotypes at a conscious level, but they are also stored outside our awareness. Once activated, these unconscious stereotypes can lead to involuntary biases in how we evaluate and interact with others. Past research suggests that unconscious stereotypes are activated only after the brain is finished with visually processing a person. Contrary to this, the present project tests whether stereotypic associations influence the brain's initial visual processing, in turn creating systematic distortions in how a face or object is perceived. These distortions make faces or objects appear more visually consistent with stereotypes than they are in reality. Such a phenomenon of stereotypic vision contrasts with everyday beliefs that visual perception is an accurate reflection of reality. By distorting visual perception in line with stereotypic associations, such effects may deepen and maintain stored stereotypic associations. By providing a better understanding of the neural mechanisms that underlie stereotypic vision and their capacity for change, this project could pave the way for new techniques to reduce unintended biases. In doing so, this project could address the difficulty in creating long-term change in stereotypic associations.

This CAREER project builds on Dr. Jonathan Freeman's cutting-edge brain-imaging and behavioral methodology to test his model of stereotypic vision. Through his specialized software, a computer mouse-tracking technique will be used to measure the trajectory of hand movements en route to response alternatives on the screen while they are presented with faces or objects. Despite conscious responses, hand trajectories' simultaneous attraction to an unselected alternative provides a sensitive measure of the effect of stereotypes on the process of perception with millisecond precision. These behavioral effects will be linked with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) pattern analyses, permitting an assessment of how biases in perception relate to biases in a face or object's visual representation in the brain. Seven studies will test whether (a) stereotypes bias the visual representation of a face or object, driven by the interplay of brain regions involved in face processing and visual predictions; (b) this effect of stereotypic vision is automatic, rather than conscious and deliberate; (c) this effect is flexible, such that it is not limited to pre-existing social categories (e.g., race, gender, age) but arises with newly acquired categories, and importantly, can be reduced by counter-stereotype interventions. This project will advance a cutting-edge behavioral methodology in tandem with fMRI pattern-analyses. They have the potential to be transformative across psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and related fields, providing a paradigm to reveal the neural representation of 'hidden' cognitive states. Knowledge gained through these studies will be leveraged to develop new mouse-tracking platforms for the general public to raise awareness of subtle forms of bias, generate data for future research, and pave the way for improved techniques to reduce real-world biases.