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Roxie
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Roxie
Post Number: 617
Registered: 06-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 07:24 am: | 
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You decide.........
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Brain scan identifies race bias
Nature Neuroscience
Brain scan identifies race bias
November 16, 2003 - 6:30PM
A brain scan that can apparently root out racists has been developed by scientists.
The technique was used on white volunteers shown photographs of black individuals.
In those with racist tendencies, a surge of activity was seen in part of the brain that controls thoughts and behaviour.
Scientists believe this reflected volunteers' attempts to curb their latent racism.
After interacting with real black individuals, the same group performed poorly in a task designed to test mental resources.
The American researchers concluded that harbouring racial prejudice, even unintentionally, stirred up an inner struggle that exhausted the brain.
Dr Jennifer Richeson, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, said: "We were surprised to find brain activity in response to faces of black individuals predicted how research participants performed on cognitive tasks after actual interracial interactions.
"To my knowledge, this is the first study to use brain imaging data in tandem with more standard behavioural data to test a social psychological theory."
The scientists first measured the racial bias of 30 white individuals using a standard technique.
Volunteers were given a computer test to record the ease with which they associated with white and black racial groups with concepts that were positive or negative.
Those with higher levels of racial bias took longer to associate white people with negative concepts and black people with positive concepts.
The study participants were then asked to interact with either a white or a black individual. Afterwards, they underwent a test which involved making a mental effort to inhibit instinctive responses.
The scan experiment employed a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map brain activity.
While this was taking place, volunteers were shown a selection of photos of unfamiliar black and white faces.
The findings were reported in the on-line edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/16/1068917667171.html
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My comments:
*Why have they not carried this experiment out on non-white subjects?
*All the time I hear stories from some white people about when they were young they became frightened when they encountered a black or non-white person for the first time. How come we never hear stories about NON-WHITE children being frightened at the sight of a WHITE person for the first time? It never goes both ways like one would think.
*If something is biased it is this Experiment. -_-' |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4115
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 07:35 am: |
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Roxie,
Maybe the best way to address your questions would be for Black foks to invent their own "How much I hate YT." brain tests. |
Roxie
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Roxie
Post Number: 618
Registered: 06-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 11:20 am: |
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Abm,
 . |
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