Performance on indirect measures of race evaluation predicts amygdala activation

We used fMRI to explore the neural substrates involved in the unconscious e valuation of Black and White social groups. Specifically, we focused on the amygdala, a subcortical structure known to play a role in emotional learni ng and evaluation. In Experiment 1, White American subjects observed faces of unfamiliar Black and White males. The strength of amygdala activation to Black-versus-White faces was correlated with two indirect (unconscious) me asures of race evaluation (Implicit Association Test [IAT] and potentiated startle), but not with the direct (conscious) expression of race attitudes. In Experiment 2, these patterns were not obtained when the stimulus faces belonged to familiar and positively regarded Black and White individuals. T ogether, these results suggest that amygdala and behavioral responses to Bl ack-versus-White faces in White subjects reflect cultural evaluations of so cial groups modified by individual experience.