From early in development, race biases how children think about gender—often in a manner that treats Black women as less typical and representative of
Most adults are better at recognizing recently encountered faces of their own race, relative to faces of other races. In adults, this race effect in face recognition is associated with differential neural representations of own‐ and other‐race faces in the fusiform face area (FFA), a high‐level visual region involved in face recognition. Previous research has linked these differential face representations in adults to viewers’ implicit racial associations. However, despite the fact that the FFA undergoes a gradual development which continues well into adulthood, little is known about the developmental time‐course of the race effect in FFA responses. Also unclear is how this race effect might relate to the development of face recognition or implicit associations with own‐ or other‐races during childhood and adolescence. To examine the developmental trajectory of these race effects, in a cross‐sectional study of European American (EA) children (ages 7–11), adolescents (ages 12–16) and adults (ages 18–35), we evaluated responses to adult African American (AA) and EA face stimuli, using functional magnetic resonance imaging and separate behavioral measures outside the scanner. We found that FFA responses to AA and EA faces differentiated during development from childhood into adulthood; meanwhile, the magnitudes of race effects increased in behavioral measures of face‐recognition and implicit racial associations. These three race effects were positively correlated, even after controlling for age. These findings suggest that social and perceptual experiences shape a protracted development of the race effect in face processing that continues well into adulthood.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10382009
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Developmental Science
- Volume:
- 24
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 1363-755X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract women in general than White or Asian women. The present study (N = 89, ages 7–11; predominately Hispanic, White, and multi‐racial children) examined the generalizability of this phenomenon across middle childhood and the mechanisms underlying variability in its development. Replicating prior work, children were slower and less accurate to categorize the gender of Black women compared to Asian or White women, as well as compared to Black men, suggesting that children perceived Black women as less representative of their gender. These effects were robust across age within a racially and ethnically diverse sample of children. Children's tendencies to view their own racial identities as expansive and flexible, however, attenuated these effects: Children with more flexible racial identities also had gender concepts that were more inclusive of Black women. In contrast, the tendency for race to bias children's gender representations was unrelated to children's multiple classification skill and racial essentialism. These findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying variation in how race biases gender across development, with critical implications for how children's own identities shape the development of intergroup cognition and behavior. -
Individual differences in expertise with non-face objects has been positively related to neural selectivity for these objects in several brain regions, including in the fusiform face area (FFA). Recently, we reported that FFA’s cortical thickness is also positively correlated with expertise for non-living objects, while FFA’s cortical thickness is negatively correlated with face recognition ability. These opposite relations between structure and visual abilities, obtained in the same subjects, were postulated to reflect the earlier experience with faces relative to cars, with different mechanisms of plasticity operating at these different developmental times. Here we predicted that variability for faces, presumably reflecting pruning, would be found selectively in deep cortical layers. In 13 men selected to vary in their performance with faces, we used ultra-high field imaging (7 Tesla), we localized the FFA functionally and collected and averaged 6 ultra-high resolution susceptibility weighed images (SWI). Voxel dimensions were 0.194x0.194x1.00mm, covering 20 slices with 0.1mm gap. Images were then processed by two operators blind to behavioral results to define the gray matter/white matter (deep) and gray matter/CSF (superficial) cortical boundaries. Internal boundaries between presumed deep, middle and superficial cortical layers were obtained with an automated method based on image intensities. We used an extensive battery of behavioral tests to quantify both face and object recognition ability. We replicate prior work with face and non-living object recognition predicting large and independent parts of the variance in cortical thickness of the right FFA, in different directions. We also find that face recognition is specifically predicted by the thickness of the deep cortical layers in FFA, whereas recognition of vehicles relates to the thickness of all cortical layers. Our results represent the most precise structural correlate of a behavioral ability to date, linking face recognition ability to a specific layer of a functionally-defined area.more » « less
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null (Ed.)Contact with racial outgroups is thought to reduce the cross-race recognition deficit (CRD), the tendency for people to recognize same-race (i.e., ingroup) faces more accurately than cross-race (i.e., outgroup) faces. In 2001, Meissner and Brigham conducted a meta-analysis in which they examined this question and found a meta-analytic effect of r = −.13. We conduct a new meta-analysis based on 20 years of additional data to update the estimate of this relationship and examine theoretical and methodological moderators of the effect. We find a meta-analytic effect of r = −.15. In line with theoretical predictions, we find some evidence that the magnitude of this relationship is stronger when contact occurs during childhood rather than adulthood. We find no evidence that the relationship differs for measures of holistic/configural processing compared with normal processing. Finally, we find that the magnitude of the relationship depends on the operationalization of contact and that it is strongest when contact is manipulated. We consider recommendations for further research on this topic.more » « less
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Abstract Background Epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) and epigenetic gestational age acceleration (EGAA) are biomarkers of physiological development and may be affected by the perinatal environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate performance of epigenetic clocks and to identify biological and sociodemographic correlates of EGAA and EAA at birth and in childhood. In the Project Viva pre-birth cohort, DNA methylation was measured in nucleated cells in cord blood (leukocytes and nucleated red blood cells, N = 485) and leukocytes in early (N = 120, median age = 3.2 years) and mid-childhood (N = 460, median age = 7.7 years). We calculated epigenetic gestational age (EGA; Bohlin and Knight clocks) and epigenetic age (EA; Horvath and skin & blood clocks), and respective measures of EGAA and EAA. We evaluated the performance of clocks relative to chronological age using correlations and median absolute error. We tested for associations of maternal-child characteristics with EGAA and EAA using mutually adjusted linear models controlling for estimated cell type proportions. We also tested associations of Horvath EA at birth with childhood EAA.
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r = 0.82,p < 0.001). Horvath and skin & blood EA were weakly correlated with gestational age, but moderately correlated with chronological age in childhood (r = 0.45–0.65). Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with higher skin & blood EAA at birth [B (95% CI) = 1.17 weeks (− 0.09, 2.42)] and in early childhood [0.34 years (0.03, 0.64)]. Female newborns and children had lower Bohlin EGAA [− 0.17 weeks (− 0.30, − 0.04)] and Horvath EAA at birth [B (95% CI) = − 2.88 weeks (− 4.41, − 1.35)] and in childhood [early childhood: − 0.3 years (− 0.60, 0.01); mid-childhood: − 0.48 years (− 0.77, − 0.18)] than males. When comparing self-reported Asian, Black, Hispanic, and more than one race or other racial/ethnic groups to White, we identified significant differences in EGAA and EAA at birth and in mid-childhood, but associations varied across clocks. Horvath EA at birth was positively associated with childhood Horvath and skin & blood EAA.Conclusions Maternal smoking during pregnancy and child sex were associated with EGAA and EAA at multiple timepoints. Further research may provide insight into the relationship between perinatal factors, pediatric epigenetic aging, and health and development across the lifespan.
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