Racial discrimination and core executive functions

Abstract

Researchers have theorized that exposure to racial discrimination may impair executive functioning. The limited existing data broadly support this notion and suggest that discrimination may exert acute and persistent effects on executive functioning, potentially because of the cognitive demands associated with responding to discrimination. However, it is unclear if discrimination is differentially associated with different core executive functions. Further, the effects may vary depending on the timing of exposure, as recent or acute exposure to discrimination may operate on executive functioning through different mechanisms than exposure across the lifetime. The current study evaluates the relations of both recent and lifetime exposure to racial discrimination to three core executive functions (i.e., cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control and working memory) using a racially and ethnically diverse sample (n = 319). In fully adjusted models, recent discrimination was negatively associated with cognitive flexibility and working memory but not with inhibitory control. These data are consistent with the broader literature on acute stress effects on core executive functions and may have implications for understanding the effects of discrimination on health. Further research is warranted to understand the course and mechanisms of effects of lifetime and recent discrimination on core executive functions.

The association between mental health stigma and face emotion recognition in individuals at risk for psychosis.

“…Our findings suggest that mental illness stigma influenced participants’ performance on a social cognitive task. These relations may occur by the same process in which experiences such as stereotype threat (Spencer et al, 2016; Steele & Aronson, 1995), stigma stress (Rüsch et al, 2009a, 2009b), and racial discrimination (Coogan et al, 2020; Keating et al, 2021) prompt a disruptive state of inefficient cognitive processing that undermines performance (Grant & Beck, 2009; Pennington et al, 2016). The mechanisms by which stigma impairs cognitive performance include distraction and loss of focus presumably due to increased stereotyped-related distraction (Cadinu et al, 2005), increased physiological arousal such as decreased heart rate variability (Croizet et al, 2004), increased skin conductance and blood pressure (Osborne, 2006), and increased anxiety (Spencer et al, 1999).…”

Toward promotion of health equity in pediatric disorders of gut–brain interaction: A call to action.

“…This “weathering,” or “cumulative wear and tear on the body,” activates neurohormonal and physiological systems which may contribute to disparities in many chronic diseases including early elevation of blood pressure and cardiac disease, diabetes, refractory asthma, and cancer (Laster et al, 2023). Similarly, the effects of racism have also been found to impact cognitive and psychological systems (Keating et al, 2022). While there appears to be research examining the physical and psychological effects of structural racism on health outcomes, particularly in adult populations, there is no research to our knowledge on the specific effects of racism and discrimination on pediatric DGBIs, an area of critical need and call to action for pediatric psychologists.…”

“…At the backdrop of medical mistrust, a not-distant history of unethical and grossly abusive research practices that have disproportionately targeted patients from racial and ethnic minority communities including the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and Henrietta Lacks cells (Keating et al, 2022; Laster et al, 2023). Combined with experiences of discrimination and bias in medicine such as symptom dismissal, undertreated pain (Todd et al, 1993), and less frequent referral for specialty care (Sasegbon & Vasant, 2021; Tan et al, 2017), marginalized communities may understandably approach an untrustworthy medical system as such.…”

Seeking justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in pediatric nephrology

“…An additional factor crucial to this discussion is that the effects of racism may directly impair patients’ abilities to process and implement medical recommendations. A 2021 study on executive functioning in a multiethnic cohort of 319 college students evaluated the association between recent experiences of discrimination and the components of executive function including working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control ( 39 ). Having an experience of racial discrimination was significantly associated with lower cognitive flexibility, or the ability to switch perspectives and the way one thinks about problems.…”