Social group membership modulates the neural processing of emotional facial expressions, which, in turn, recruits part of the neural production system. However, little is known about how mixed - and potentially conflicting - social identity cues affect this mechanism. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that incongruent cues of two group memberships (ethnic and experimentally created minimal groups) elicit conflict processing for neutral and, in particular, angry facial expressions. We further expected this interaction of ethnic group, minimal group and emotion to also modulate activation in an emotional production-perception network. Twenty-two healthy German subjects saw dynamic angry and neutral facial expressions, presented in short video clips during functional MRI scanning. All depicted actors belonged to an ethnic in- or outgroup (German or Turkish descent) as well as an ad hoc experimentally created minimal in- or outgroup. Additionally, subjects produced angry or neutral expressions themselves. The whole-brain interaction of ethnic group, minimal group and emotion revealed activity in the right parietal lobule and left cerebellum. Both showed strongest activation for angry faces with conflicting group memberships (e.g., 'ethnic outgroup/minimal ingroup'). In addition, a sub-region of the left cerebellum cluster was also activated for both perceiving and producing angry versus neutral expressions. These results suggest that incongruent group members displaying angry facial expressions elicit conflict processing. Group interaction effects in an emotional production-perception network further indicate stronger neural resonance for incongruent group members.

中文翻译：

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冲突的组成员关系会调节情绪化生产感知网络中的神经激活。

社交团体成员资格调节情感面部表情的神经处理，进而招募神经产生系统的一部分。但是，人们对混合的以及潜在冲突的社会身份提示如何影响这一机制知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们检验了以下假设：两个群体成员（种族和实验创建的最小群体）的线索不一致，会引起中性（尤其是愤怒的）面部表情的冲突处理。我们进一步期望种族，最小群体和情感的这种相互作用也可以调节情感生产感知网络中的激活。22名健康的德国受试者在功能性MRI扫描期间的短片中看到了生气动人的中性表情。所描绘的所有演员都属于一个种族的内部或外部群体（德国或土耳其血统），以及通过实验创建的一个临时的最小内部或外部群体。另外，受试者自己产生愤怒或中立的表情。族裔，最小的族群和情绪的全脑相互作用揭示了右顶叶和左小脑的活动。两者都显示出最强的激活力，可以使愤怒的面孔拥有相互冲突的团体成员身份（例如“种族外群/最小群内”）。此外，还激活了左小脑簇的一个子区域，以感知并产生愤怒与中性表达。这些结果表明，表现出愤怒的面部表情的不协调的小组成员会引发冲突处理。