Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

An fMRI investigation of race-related amygdala activity in African-American and Caucasian-American individuals

Nature Neuroscience volume 8, pages 720–722 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine the nature of amygdala sensitivity to race. Both African-American and Caucasian-American individuals showed greater amygdala activity to African-American targets than to Caucasian-American targets, suggesting that race-related amygdala activity may result from cultural learning rather than from the novelty of other races. Additionally, verbal encoding of African-American targets produced significantly less amygdala activity than perceptual encoding of African-American targets.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Task and amygdala responses.
Figure 2: Amygdala and RVLPFC responses to target race and encoding task.

References

  1. Zald, D.H. Brain Res. Brain Res. Rev. 41, 88–123 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Eberhardt, J.L. Am. Psychol. 60, 181–190 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Phelps, E.A. et al. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 12, 729–738 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Cunningham, W.A. et al. Psychol. Sci. 15, 806–813 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Macrae, C.N. & Bodenhausen, G.V. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 51, 93–120 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Hariri, A.R., Bookheimer, S.Y. & Mazziotta, J.C. Neuroreport 11, 43–48 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wilson, T.D. & Schooler, J.W. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 60, 181–192 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Taylor, S.F., Phan, K.L., Decker, L.R. & Liberzon, I. Neuroimage 18, 650–659 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Haxby, J.V., Hoffman, E.A. & Gobbini, M.I. Trends Cogn. Sci. 4, 223–233 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Ghashghaei, H.T. & Barbas, H. Neuroscience 115, 1261–1279 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Rosenkranz, J.A. & Grace, A.A. J. Neurosci. 22, 324–337 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Aron, A.R., Robbins, T.W. & Poldrack, R.A. Trends Cogn. Sci. 8, 170–177 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Ochsner, K.N. et al. Neuroimage 23, 483–499 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Cunningham, W.A., Johnson, M.K., Gatenby, J.C., Gore, J.C. & Banaji, M.R. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 85, 639–649 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Perdue, C.W. et al. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 59, 475–486 (1990).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from National Science Foundation (BCS-0074562) and National Institute of Mental Health (MH66709) to M.D.L. The authors also wish to thank the Brain Mapping Medical Research Organization, Brain Mapping Support Foundation, Pierson-Lovelace Foundation, the Ahmanson Foundation, Tamkin Foundation, Jennifer Jones-Simon Foundation, Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation, Robson Family, William M. and Linda R. Dietel Philanthropic Fund at the Northern Piedmont Community Foundation, Northstar Fund and the National Center for Research Resources (grants RR12169, RR13642 and RR08655) for their support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Franz Hall, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 90095-1563, California, USA

    Matthew D Lieberman, Johanna M Jarcho & Naomi I Eisenberger

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 3811 O'Hara Street, Room E-729, Pittsburgh, 15213-2593, Pennsylvania, USA

    Ahmad Hariri

  3. Brain Mapping Center, University of California Los Angeles, School of Medicine, 660 Charles Young Drive, Los Angeles, 90095, California, USA

    Susan Y Bookheimer

Authors
  1. Matthew D Lieberman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ahmad Hariri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Johanna M Jarcho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Naomi I Eisenberger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Susan Y Bookheimer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew D Lieberman.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lieberman, M., Hariri, A., Jarcho, J. et al. An fMRI investigation of race-related amygdala activity in African-American and Caucasian-American individuals. Nat Neurosci 8, 720–722 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1465

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1465

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing