Our brain reacts differently depending on the socio-economic level of the person we are talking to.
What happens in the brain when we talk? Are the reactions different depending on the person we have in front of us? Researchers from the universities of UCL and Yale (United States) find that the cerebral response varies according to the socioeconomic level of the person to whom we speak. In Social Cognitive and Affective Neurosciencethey tell the story of their experience.
Twelve minutes of discussion
The research team recruited 78 participants, whom they grouped into pairs. Each of them wore headphones to record their brain activity. For twelve minutes, each couple discussed various topics such as their last summer vacation or a cake recipe. Next, the researchers collected information on the participants’ level of income and education. They categorized each of the pairs into either a large gap group or a small gap group.
A specific area of the brain affected
They found that when two people of very different socioeconomic levels spoke to each other, brain activity was concentrated in a specific area of the frontal lobe, called the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This observation was valid for both people, regardless of their socio-economic level. This part of the brain is associated with speech production, language and cognitive control. Participants answered questionnaires after the experiment: those who spoke with people from different backgrounds felt a little more anxiety and said they made more effort during the conversation, compared to those who spoke with people of the same socio-economic level.
Our brains, our allies
For the researchers, this study confirms previously raised hypotheses: the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex acts to detect potential biases and helps us regulate our behavior to avoid prejudice. “I believe our findings carry a hopeful messageunderlines Joy Hirsch, co-author of the study. We know that humans can have socially positive encounters with different people. Now we know the neurobiological root of it: our brains have evolved a prefrontal system to help us deal with diversity.”
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