GENDER, N170 EVENT RELATED POTENTIAL, AND IMPLICIT RACIAL BIAS

To better understand the N170 event related potential (ERP), we examined how factors such as participant gender and implicit racial bias might reflect upon amplitude and latency. White male (18) and female (34) participants performed an implicit association test (IAT) and Simple viewing EEG task with own-race White and other-race Asian faces. We were able to make several conclusions from the data. (1a) Participants generally showed an implicit racial bias favoring their own race group. (1b) The degree of this implicit racial bias did not differ between male and female participants. (2) Male, compared to female, participants expressed longer N170 latencies but similar amplitudes. (3) Lower compared to higher levels of implicit racial bias did not appear to influence the N170. (4) Participant gender, stimulus race, and implicit racial bias did not interact to influence the N170.