Previous studies have identified two group-level processes, neural representations of interracial between-group difference and intraracial within-group similarity, that contribute to the racial categorization of faces. What remains unclear is how the brain tracks race-related information that varies across different faces as an individual-level neural process involved in race perception. In three studies, we recorded functional MRI signals when Chinese adults performed different tasks on morphed faces in which proportions of pixels contributing to perceived racial identity (Asian vs White) and expression (pain vs neutral) varied independently. We found that, during a pain expression judgment task, tracking other-race and same-race-related information in perceived faces recruited the ventral occipitotemporal cortices and medial prefrontal/anterior temporal cortices, respectively. However, neural tracking of race-related information tended to be weakened during explicit race judgments on perceived faces. During a donation task, the medial prefrontal activity also tracked race-related information that distinguished between two perceived faces for altruistic decision-making and encoded the Euclidean distance between the two faces that predicted decision-making speeds. Our findings revealed task-dependent neural mechanisms underlying the tracking of race-related information during face perception and altruistic decision-making.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Young Adult ; Brain/diagnostic imaging* ; Brain Mapping ; Decision Making/physiology* ; Facial Recognition/physiology* ; Judgment/physiology* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Photic Stimulation ; Racial Groups ; Social Perception ; East Asian People

Social working memory (SWM)-the ability to maintain and manipulate social information in the brain-plays a crucial role in social interactions. However, research on SWM is still in its infancy and is often treated as a unitary construct. In the present study, we propose that SWM can be conceptualized as having two relatively independent components: "externally oriented SWM" (e-SWM) and "internally oriented SWM" (i-SWM). To test this external-internal hypothesis, participants were tasked with memorizing and ranking either facial expressions (e-SWM) or personality traits (i-SWM) associated with images of faces. We then examined the neural correlates of these two SWM components and their functional roles in empathy. The results showed distinct activations as the e-SWM task activated the postcentral and precentral gyri while the i-SWM task activated the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex and superior frontal gyrus. Distinct multivariate activation patterns were also found within the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex in the two tasks. Moreover, partial least squares analyses combining brain activation and individual differences in empathy showed that e-SWM and i-SWM brain activities were mainly correlated with affective empathy and cognitive empathy, respectively. These findings implicate distinct brain processes as well as functional roles of the two types of SWM, providing support for the internal-external hypothesis of SWM.
Humans ; Memory, Short-Term/physiology* ; Male ; Female ; Empathy/physiology* ; Young Adult ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Adult ; Brain/diagnostic imaging* ; Brain Mapping ; Facial Expression ; Social Behavior ; Facial Recognition/physiology* ; Social Perception ; Personality/physiology*

Perception ; Pupil ; Social Interaction

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to investigate the social perceptions of the baby box and infant abandonment. METHODS: The study included a survey on social perceptions of infant abandonment, including the baby box and permissiveness of infant abandonment. F-tests and t-tests were performed to clarify the differences in permissiveness of infant abandonment based on general characteristics. RESULTS: First, it was found that awareness of the baby box was high, and positive perceptions were slightly higher than negative perceptions due to the value placed on the abandoned child's life and safety, the unavoidable reasons for not rearing a child, and the child's quality of life after abandonment. However, the reasons for negative attitudes toward the baby box included the increase in infant abandonment and the decrease in parental responsibility toward the child. Second, the permissiveness of infant abandonment was generally low; however, the level of permissiveness differed according to age, education level, status, and marital status. For people who are in their 30s or older, hold a graduate or higher level degree, are employed, and are married, the permissiveness of infant abandonment was lower than that of others. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the current support policy for unmarried mothers should be changed to improve the economic and social conditions of child care. Furthermore, we must strive to improve the social perceptions of various family structures, including unmarried parents and their children.
Child ; Child Abuse ; Child Care ; Education ; Humans ; Illegitimacy ; Infant ; Marital Status ; Parents ; Permissiveness ; Quality of Life ; Single Person ; Social Conditions ; Social Perception

“Yong-yi” means “quack” in English, which generally refers to a doctor who does not have good medical skills. In the Ming and Qing dynasties in China, various criticism about “Yong-yi” became popularized, and by the late Qing period, “quacks” had become a serious social issue. The theory of traditional Chinese medicine was developed during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and local medical resources also increased. Moreover, the prevalence of medical book publishing led to the openness and generalization of medical knowledge. As a result, not only the number of doctors increased, but also the number of doctors who lack medical knowledge and clinical experience increased. However, at the outset, “Yong-yi” did not only mean doctors with poor medical skills. “Yong-yi” also reflected conflicts and contradictions between doctors. Doctors consistently criticized quacks in an attempt to maintain their identity as a “good” doctor or a Confucian doctor. In this sense, “Yong-yi” was used among physicians as an expression of discrimination and exclusion. The concept of “quackery” was also determined by the relationship between patients and doctors. In general, itinerant doctors, midwives and shaman doctors were regarded as “Yong-yi”; however, they served the medical needs of various patients. Thus, to some extent, “Yong-yi” were also useful medical resources. On the contrary, in certain situations, “shiyi,” physicians who serviced a family for generations and were generally believed to be reliable and as trustworthy doctors, were also labelled as quacks, especially when the patient did not trust them or was not satisfied with the treatment. Therefore, doctors' thoughts about “Yong-yi” did not always coincide with patients' thoughts about “Yong-yi.” However, by the late Qing period, the description of quacks in media reports found a singular connotation, and the divergent social image of quacks disappeared. By this time, quacks were uniformly described as ignorant and irresponsible Chinese medicine practitioners. Specifically, in one murder case in which a “Yong-yi” was accused as the murderer, the report unilaterally reported the patient's claims. Consequently, Chinese medicine practitioners who failed in their treatment of patients became labeled as “quack” doctors. In newspaper reports, “Yong-yi” no longer simply referred to individual cases of “quacks” but had come to represent the entirety of the Chinese medicine practitioner community. On the contrary, Western medical doctors who replaced the status of traditional doctors were positively portrayed. Pictorials also had similar perspectives with newspapers, supporting the narrative of the news with ironic drawings and articles. Overall, media reports regarding “Yong-yi” did not focus on reporting facts, but they had the purpose of making quacks a serious social problem.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; China ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Family Characteristics ; Generalization (Psychology) ; Homicide ; Humans ; Iron ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Midwifery ; Periodicals ; Prevalence ; Social Perception ; Social Problems

BACKGROUND: No head to head comparison is available between surgical lip lifting and upper lip filler injections to decide which technique yields the best results in patients. Despite the growing popularity of upper lip augmentation, its effect on societal perceptions of attractiveness, successfulness and overall health in woman is unknown. METHODS: Blinded casual observers viewed three versions of independent images of 15 unique patient lower faces for a total of 45 images. Observers rated the attractiveness, perceived success, and perceived overall health for each patient image. Facial perception questions were answered on a visual analog scale from 0 to 100, where higher scores corresponded to more positive responses. RESULTS: Two hundred and seventeen random observers with an average age of 47 years (standard deviation, 15.9) rated the images. The majority of observers were females (n=183, 84%) of white race (n=174, 80%) and had at least some college education (n=202, 93%). The marginal mean score for perceived attractiveness from the natural condition was 1.5 points (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.9–2.18) higher than perceived attractiveness from the simulated upper lip filler injection condition, and 2.6 points higher (95% CI, 1.95–3.24) than the simulated upper lip lift condition. There was a moderate to strong correlation between the scores of the same observer. CONCLUSIONS: Simulated upper lip augmentation is amenable to social perception analysis. Scores of the same observer for attractiveness, successfulness, and overall health are strongly correlated. Overall, the natural condition had the highest scores in all categories, followed by simulated upper lip filler, and lastly simulated upper lip lift.
Continental Population Groups ; Education ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Lifting ; Lip ; Photography ; Social Perception ; Surgery, Plastic ; Visual Analog Scale

OBJECTIVE: This paper aimed to describe and correlate the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors towards mental illness among adult college students.

METHODOLOGY: Experts from the Department of Psychiatry reviewed the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS), Community Attitude towards the Mental Illness III (CAMI-III) and Reported and Intended Behavior Scale (RIBS) appropriateness for the intended population. These were administered to randomly selected 260 adult college students from a selected university in Metro Manila. Data was analyzed using mean, frequencies, item analysis and correlation coefficient.

RESULTS: Mean score for knowledge was 48.17 of 60. Mean scores for authoritarianism, social restrictiveness, benevolence and community mental health ideology were 21.67, 18.82, 43.26 and 41.38 of 50. Mean score for nondiscriminatory behavior was 17.39 of 20. Nondiscriminatory behavior positively correlated with benevolence (r=0.34) and community mental health ideology (r=0.45). Nondiscriminatory behavior negatively correlated with authoritarianism (r=-0.34) and social restrictiveness (r=-0.39). Knowledge positively correlated with benevolence (r=0.3) and negatively correlated with social restrictiveness (r=-0.35).

CONCLUSION: College students have high mental literacy but were confused with stress and grief. They were tolerant, respectful and inclusive of the mentally ill's role in society but half viewed mental hospital as indispensable and were guarded regarding the mentally ill's role in young children, and a quarter had fallacies with mental illness recognition and etiology. Educational interventions only improve some attitudes but have no effect on discriminatory behaviors. Instead, behavioral interventions holistically improve attitudes. Compared with previous generations, the challenge in reducing discrimination is to improve attitudes instead of knowledge. Hence, stigma may not only vary by culture, but may also vary by generation.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to comprehend the real context of metabolic syndrome-related factors of Korean male blue-collar workers from small-sized companies based on the health belief model. METHODS: A total of 37 workers from three companies were interviewed, and three series of focus group interviews were conducted. Data were analyzed using deductive content analysis. RESULTS: Data were classified into four categories: knowledge, perceived susceptibility and severity, perceived barriers, and beliefs. Knowledge referred to low knowledge level; perceived susceptibility and severity referred to unawareness of susceptibility and severity; perceived barriers referred to shift work, overtime work, and a social context including having no choice but to drink; and beliefs referred to believing that health promotion behaviors do not relate to preventing metabolic syndrome, believing that one cannot prevent metabolic syndrome oneself, and believing that professional help is required. CONCLUSION: To prevent and reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome among Korean male blue-collar workers, interventions should focus on strategies to increase metabolic syndrome-related knowledge and perceptions, social support, and self-efficacy for practicing health behaviors. In addition, it is necessary to develop policies for establishing a healthy drinking culture in companies.
Drinking ; Focus Groups ; Health Behavior ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Male ; Needs Assessment ; Qualitative Research ; Risk Reduction Behavior ; Social Perception

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is considered to play a crucial role in many high-level functions, such as cognitive control and emotional regulation. Many studies have reported that the DLPFC can be activated during the processing of emotional information in tasks requiring working memory. However, it is still not clear whether modulating the activity of the DLPFC influences emotional perception in a detection task. In the present study, using transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS), we investigated (1) whether modulating the right DLPFC influences emotional face processing in a detection task, and (2) whether the DLPFC plays equal roles in processing positive and negative emotional faces. The results showed that anodal tDCS over the right DLPFC specifically facilitated the perception of positive faces, but did not influence the processing of negative faces. In addition, anodal tDCS over the right primary visual cortex enhanced performance in the detection task regardless of emotional valence. Our findings suggest, for the first time, that modulating the right DLPFC influences emotional face perception, especially faces showing positive emotion.
Adult ; Emotions ; Facial Recognition ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Prefrontal Cortex ; physiology ; Social Perception ; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ; Young Adult

Facial and vocal expressions are essential modalities mediating the perception of emotion and social communication. Nonetheless, currently little is known about how emotion perception and its neural substrates differ across facial expression and vocal prosody. To clarify this issue, functional MRI scans were acquired in Study 1, in which participants were asked to discriminate the valence of emotional expression (angry, happy or neutral) from facial, vocal, or bimodal stimuli. In Study 2, we used an affective priming task (unimodal materials as primers and bimodal materials as target) and participants were asked to rate the intensity, valence, and arousal of the targets. Study 1 showed higher accuracy and shorter response latencies in the facial than in the vocal modality for a happy expression. Whole-brain analysis showed enhanced activation during facial compared to vocal emotions in the inferior temporal-occipital regions. Region of interest analysis showed a higher percentage signal change for facial than for vocal anger in the superior temporal sulcus. Study 2 showed that facial relative to vocal priming of anger had a greater influence on perceived emotion for bimodal targets, irrespective of the target valence. These findings suggest that facial expression is associated with enhanced emotion perception compared to equivalent vocal prosodies.
Adult ; Brain Mapping ; methods ; Cerebral Cortex ; diagnostic imaging ; physiology ; Emotions ; physiology ; Facial Expression ; Facial Recognition ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Psychomotor Performance ; physiology ; Social Perception ; Speech Perception ; physiology ; Young Adult