RUI: Processing ambiguity: From initial perception to race classification of multiracial faces in diverse observers

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。美国的多种族人口是增长最快的群体之一。在美国跨种族婚姻合法化后的50年里，多种族人口已增长到占美国人口的6.9%，到2060年，这一数字将增加两倍。就其本质而言，多种族人士挑战了传统的非此即彼的种族思维，为改善种族关系提供了重要途径。本研究探讨了多种族面孔感知的基本认知和社会心理影响，以及这些更广泛的影响。了解感知者如何看待多种族人群并对其进行种族分类，也会对多种族个体自身的身心健康产生影响。因此，了解多种族人士如何看待自己的种族身份以及他人如何看待他们变得越来越重要。研究一直发现，人们通常无法将多种族的人归类为多种族。理解为什么以及在什么情况下人们不能认识到其他人是多种族构成了当前研究的基础。这个项目测试了一个假设，即不能将多种族的人识别为多种族并不是普遍的，而是取决于一个人过去的经历在多大程度上促进了对多种族其他人的心理表征。据预测，来自多种族人口相对较多地区的人会比那些之前接触较少的人更能适应多种族面孔，因此更有可能将这些面孔识别为多种族面孔。这项研究还探讨了认知加工的要素，因为它们在感知单一种族和多种族面孔时迅速展开。利用反应时间模型和脑电图（EEG）的脑电活动记录，该研究旨在确定从最初看到一张脸到最终对其进行分类之间发生的不同处理阶段。揭开这些处理阶段的面纱，我们就可以了解到，当我们看到一张多种族的脸和一张单一种族的脸时，这些处理阶段是如何不同的，以及它们是如何因与多种族的人接触的程度而有所不同的。至关重要的是，该研究通过提供实践，科学研究方法和统计程序的技术培训，专业发展以及对代表性不足的有色人种学生的密集指导，促进了学生的积极参与。这些资金还允许传统上缺乏服务的学生增加获得神经科学工具和培训的机会，从而使未来几年的科学管道多样化。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). America’s multiracial population represents one of its fastest growing segments. In the 50 years following the legalization of interracial marriage in the US, multiracial individuals have grown to represent 6.9% of the American population, a figure poised to triple by 2060. By their very nature, multiracial people challenge conventional either-or thinking about race, offering important avenues for improving race relations. This research investigates basic cognitive and social psychological influences on multiracial face perception with these broader impacts in mind. Understanding how perceivers think about and racially categorize multiracial people also has consequences for both the physical and mental well-being of multiracial individuals themselves. As a result, it has become increasingly important to understand how multiracial people think about their racial identity and how they are perceived by others. Research has consistently found that people are generally unable to categorize multiracial people as multiracial. Understanding why and under what circumstances people fail to recognize others as multiracial forms the basis for the current research. This project tests the hypothesis that the inability to identify multiracial people as multiracial is not universal but depends on the extent to which one’s past experiences foster a mental representation of multiracial others. It is predicted that people from areas with a relatively large multiracial population will be more attuned to multiracial faces than those with little prior exposure and will therefore be more likely to identify such faces as multiracial. This research also explores the elements of cognitive processing as they rapidly unfold during the perception of monoracial and multiracial faces. Using reaction time modeling and recordings of electrical brain activity with electroencephalography (EEG), the research aims to identify distinct stages of processing that occur between initially seeing a face and its eventual categorization. Unpacking these processing stages will allow an examination of how they differ when viewing a multiracial versus monoracial face, and how they may be differentially tuned by level of prior contact with multiracial people. Critically, the research fosters active student involvement by providing hands-on, technical training in scientific research methods and statistical procedures, professional development, and intensive mentorship of underrepresented students of color. These funds also allow for increased access to neuroscientific tools and training by traditionally underserved students, thereby diversifying the scientific pipeline for years to come.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.