The influence of vicarious interracial relations on cognitive control in Italian undergraduate students

This study examined the influence of vicarious interracial interactions on cognitive control functioning of Italian white undergraduate students. Sixty students performed the Stroop task watching a video showing an interracial interaction. For half of the participants the video showed a white student being excluded by two black students (exclusion condition), while for the other half the video showed a white student that was accepted in a dyad of two black students (inclusion condition). Prior to viewing the video, participants ́ racial attitudes regarding Whites and Blacks were measured by means of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and of structured questionnaires. Cognitive control functioning was measured by assessing Stroop interference and trial-by- trial conflict adaptations. Results showed that, despite the overall low levels of implicit and explicit racial prejudice, trial-by-trial conflict adaptations differed between the two groups, with the group in the exclusion condition showing less efficient adaptations to conflict. This result is consistent with a resource model of executive control and with the results of recent studies showing that interracial interactions, especially negative ones, deplete executive control.