Ethnicity, minority status, and inter-group bias: A systematic meta-analysis on fMRI studies

Supportive but biased: Perceptual neural intergroup bias is sensitive to minor reservations about supporting outgroup immigration

While decreasing negative attitudes against outgroups are often reported by individuals themselves, biased behaviour prevails. This gap between words and actions may stem from unobtrusive mental processes that could be uncovered by using neuroimaging in addition to self-reports. In this study we investigated whether adding neuroimaging to a traditional intergroup bias measure could detect intersubject differences in intergroup bias processes in a societal context where opposing discrimination is normative. In a sample of 43 Finnish students, implicit behavioural measures failed to indicate intergroup bias against Middle Eastern and Muslim immigrants, and explicit measures reported rather positive attitudes and sentiments towards that targeted group. Yet, while implementing a repeatedly validated method for detecting intergroup bias, an implicit association paradigm presenting stereotypical ingroup and outgroup face stimuli while undergoing magnetoencephalography, we detected a clear neural difference between two experimental conditions. The neural effect is thought to reflect intergroup bias in the valence of the associations that faces evoke. The activity cluster of the neural bias peaked in BA37 and included significant activity in the fusiform gyrus, which has been repeatedly found to be active during face perception bias. Importantly, this neural pattern was driven by participants who were explicitly favourable of immigration - but to a lesser extent than others. These findings suggest that such variations in explicit support of immigration are associated with the differential neural sensitivity to the congruency of associations between intergroup faces and valence. This research showcases the potential of neuroimaging to unravel covert perceptual bias against outgroup members and its sensitivity to small variations in explicit attitudes.

Representational similarity analysis of self- versus other-processing: Effect of trait aggressiveness

In this study, using the self/other adjective judgment task, we aimed to explore how people perceive themselves in comparison to various other people, including friends, strangers, and those they dislike. Next, using representational similarity analysis, we sought to elucidate how these perceptual similarities and differences are represented in brain activity and how aggressiveness is related to these representations. Behavioral ratings show that, on average, people tend to consider themselves more like their friends than neutral strangers, and least like people they dislike. This pattern of similarity is positively correlated with neural representation in social and cognitive circuits of the brain and negatively correlated with neural representation in emotional centers that may represent emotional arousal associated with various social objects. Aggressiveness seems to predispose a person to a pattern of behavior that is the opposite of the average pattern, that is, a tendency to think of oneself as less like one's friends and more like one's enemies. This corresponds to an increase in the similarity of the behavioral representation with the representation in the emotional centers and a decrease in its similarity with the representation in the social and cognitive centers. This can be seen as evidence that in individuals prone to aggression, behavior in the social environment may depend to a greater extent on the representation of social objects in the emotional rather than social and cognitive brain circuits.

Attitudes towards Receiving Monkeypox Vaccination: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

The public's attitude towards Mpox vaccination is a critical factor in the success of immunisation programmes. Understanding the factors contributing to vaccine acceptance or hesitancy is critical for developing effective health communication strategies. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to bring together evidence from observational studies on attitudes towards Mpox vaccination, including willingness and rejection.

METHODS

From this review's inception until June 2023, a comprehensive search was conducted across four major electronic databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and EBSCO. The inclusion criteria included studies investigating public attitudes towards Mpox vaccination, as defined by acceptance and willingness to be vaccinated versus rejection and unwillingness.

RESULTS

Thirty studies met the inclusion criteria among the screened literature. An analysis of 27 studies involving 81,792 participants revealed that 45,926 (56.14%) were willing to receive the Mpox vaccination. In contrast, ten studies involving 7448 participants revealed that 2156 people (28.94%) were unwilling to receive the Mpox vaccination. Females were less willing to receive the vaccine than males, with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.61 (95% CI, 0.43-0.86). Furthermore, homosexuals were found to be more willing than heterosexuals, with an OR of 1.44 (95% CI, 1.14-1.80).

CONCLUSION

Vaccination is emerging as a critical strategy for preventing Mpox infection and fostering herd immunity against potential outbreaks. Improving public awareness and acceptance of vaccination is critical to avoiding a situation similar to the COVID-19 pandemic. Targeted educational and outreach programmes could explain the benefits of vaccination, bridging the information gap and encouraging a proactive public health approach to emerging infectious diseases.