Negative Affective Priming Research Articles

Masked emotions: does children's affective state influence emotion recognition?

Facial emotion recognition abilities of children have been the focus of attention across various fields, with implications for communication, social interaction, and human behavior. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing a face mask in public became mandatory in many countries, hindering social information perception and emotion recognition. Given the importance of visual communication for children's social-emotional development, concerns have been raised on whether face masks could impair their ability to recognize emotions and thereby possibly impact their social-emotional development. To this extent, a quasiexperimental study was designed with a two-fold objective: firstly, to identify children's accuracy in recognizing basic emotions (anger, happiness, fear, disgust, sadness) and emotional neutrality when presented with faces under two conditions: one with no-masks and another with faces partially covered by various types of masks (medical, nonmedical, surgical, or cloth); secondly, to explore any correlation between children's emotion recognition accuracy and their affective state. Sixty-nine (69) elementary school students aged 6-7 years old from Greece were recruited for this purpose. Following specific requirements of the second phase of the experiment students were assigned to one of three (3) distinct affective condition groups: Group A-Happiness, Group B-Sadness, and Group C-Emotional Neutrality. Image stimuli were drawn from the FACES Dataset, and students' affective state was registered using the self-reporting emotions-registration tool, AffectLecture app. The study's findings indicate that children can accurately recognize emotions even with masks, although recognizing disgust is more challenging. Additionally, following both positive and negative affective state priming promoted systematic inaccuracies in emotion recognition. Most significantly, results showed a negative bias for children in negative affective state and a positive bias for those in positive affective state. Children's affective state significantly influenced their emotion recognition abilities; sad affective states led to lower recognition overall and a bias toward recognizing sad expressions, while happy affective states resulted in a positive bias, improving recognition of happiness, and affecting how emotional neutrality and sadness were actually perceived. In conclusion, this study sheds light on the intriguing dynamics of how face masks affect children's emotion recognition, but also underlines the profound influence of their affective state.

Change blindness, reward bias, negative affective priming: Exploring individual‐level associations between depression/anxiety symptoms and cognition

AbstractCognitive biases are thought to contribute to depression/anxiety. In addition to self‐reported measures, cognitive tasks could potentially be integrated with clinical practice as more precise measures of cognitive biases. In a large online study we explored the individual‐level association between depression/anxiety symptoms and performance on (1) reward bias, (2) negative affective priming, and (3) change blindness tasks. Participants completed tasks alongside depression/anxiety symptom questionnaires. We used regression analyses to test for associations between task performance and questionnaire scores. We conducted a replication study of the change blindness task, and performed a mega‐analysis of the two studies. Faster reaction time in the change blindness task was associated with higher depression score (B = −27, p = 0.034) in the first study (N = 545) and higher depression and anxiety scores (depression: B = −15, p = 0.045; anxiety: B = −17, p = 0.022) in the replication study (N = 616). These effects were significant in the mega‐analysis but did not withstand adjusting for age in either the original and replication studies or the mega‐analysis. We found no association between depression/anxiety and reward bias (N = 504) and negative affective priming (N = 539). Our results provide preliminary evidence that individuals with more severe depressive/anxious symptoms may be faster at identifying changes in the change blindness task. Contrary to previous findings, neither reward bias nor negative affective priming was associated with depression/anxiety.

Negative affective priming: Reliability and associations with depression symptoms in three samples.

The negative affective priming (NAP) task is a behavioral measure of inhibition of emotional stimuli. Previous studies using the NAP task have found that individuals with depression show reduced inhibition of negative stimuli, suggesting that inhibition biases may play a role in the etiology and maintenance of depression. However, the psychometric properties of the NAP task have not been evaluated or reported. In the present study, we report data on the association between NAP task performance and depression symptoms in three independent samples, and we evaluate the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the NAP effect indices. The NAP effect for both negative and positive target words had poor internal consistency in all three samples, as well as poor 2-week (Study 2) and 6-month (Study 3) test-retest reliability. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of response times (RT) for the individual trial types were moderate to high, as were the intercorrelations between trial types. This pattern of results indicates that overall RT is reliable but variance in RTs for the different trial types in the NAP task is indistinguishable from variance in overall RT. Depression symptom severity was not associated with the NAP effect for negative or positive target words in any of the samples, which could be due to the poor reliability of the NAP effect. Based on these findings, we do not recommend that researchers use the NAP task as a measure of individual differences in the inhibition of emotional stimuli.

The Moderating Role of Inhibition on Irrelevant Emotional Information in the Relation of Cognitive Reappraisal and Affect Balance: Evidence from a Negative Affective Priming Task

AbstractThis study tested the role of inhibitory control as a moderator in the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and affect balance. We employed moderation analyses with data collected from 201 participants (mean age = 22.07 years, 76.1% female). We measured their affect balance in the last 4 weeks (with the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience [SPANE]), their habitual use of cognitive reappraisal (ERQ Scale), and their performance in inhibiting irrelevant positive and negative information by means of an online negative affective priming task. Results indicated that cognitive reappraisal was a significant and positive predictor for affect balance. As predicted, inhibition of irrelevant positive and negative stimuli significantly moderated the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and affect balance. Specifically, moderate to weak inhibition of irrelevant positive stimuli and moderate to strong inhibition of irrelevant negative stimuli were found to strengthen this relationship. Thus, our findings suggest that individuals can strengthen the positive impact of cognitive reappraisal on affect balance by strongly inhibiting irrelevant negative stimuli while allowing irrelevant positive stimuli to be processed in the working memory.

Risky Business: Effects of Risk-Related Reviews and Priming Cues in Uncertain Times

The risks inherent in booking travel destinations include natural disasters, economic conditions, diseases, terrorism, and war. In times of uncertainty, peoples’ beliefs, biases, and attitudes influence decisions between competing choices. This research examined how affective and behavioral priming influence travelers’ responses to valence and risk cues within online reviews. The risk avoidance principle of prospect theory, in conjunction with the asymmetry effect of positive and negative information, underpinned the studies. The results revealed that different primes influenced responses to review risk content as a function of valence. Behavioral priming increased the impact of positive risk content, whereas negative affective priming amplified the effect of negative risk content. This study builds on the extant body of knowledge by using video to prime emotions and establishing the viability of multiple concurrent primes. The research provides practical suggestions for navigating risk- and affect-related travel influences during times of uncertainty.

The role of selective attention in the positivity offset: Evidence from event related potentials.

Some research suggests that positive and negative valence stimuli may be processed differently. For example, negative material may capture and hold attention more readily than equally arousing positive material. This is called the negativity bias, and it has been observed as both behavioural and electroencephalographic (EEG) effects. Consequently, it has been attributed to both automatic and elaborative processes. However, at the lowest levels of arousal, faster reaction times and stronger EEG responses to positive material have been observed. This is called the positivity offset, and the underlying cognitive mechanism is less understood. To study the role of selective attention in the positivity offset, participants completed a negative affective priming (NAP) task modified to dissociate priming for positive and negative words. The task required participants to indicate the valence of a target word, while simultaneously ignoring a distractor. In experiment 1, a behavioural facilitation effect (faster response time) was observed for positive words, in stark contrast to the original NAP task. These results were congruent with a previously reported general categorization advantage for positive material. In experiment 2, participants performed the task while EEG was recorded. In additional to replicating the behavioural results from experiment 1, positive words elicited a larger Late Positive Potential (LPP) component on ignored repetition relative to control trials. Surprisingly, negative words elicited a larger LPP than positive words on control trials. These results suggest that the positivity offset may reflect a greater sensitivity to priming effects due to a more flexible attentional set.

Predicting Interpersonal Outcomes From Information Processing Tasks Using Personally Relevant and Generic Stimuli: A Methodology Study.

Despite evidence of differential processing of personally relevant stimuli (PR), most studies investigating attentional biases in processing emotional content use generic stimuli. We sought to examine differences in the processing of PR, relative to generic, stimuli across information processing tasks and to validate their use in predicting concurrent interpersonal functioning. Fifty participants (25 female) viewed generic and PR (i.e., their intimate partner’s face) emotional stimuli during tasks assessing selective attention (using a modified version of the Spatial Cueing Task) and inhibition (using the Negative Affective Priming task) of emotional content. Ratings of relationship quality were also collected. Evidence of increased selective attention during controlled and greater avoidance during automatic stages of processing emerged when viewing PR, relative to generic, emotional faces. We also found greater inhibition of PR sad faces. Finally, male, but not female, participants who displayed greater difficulty disengaging from the sad face of their partner reported more conflict in their relationships. Taken together, findings from information processing studies using generic emotional stimuli may not be representative of how we process PR stimuli in naturalistic settings.

Poor inhibition of personally-relevant facial expressions of sadness and anger predicts an elevated cortisol response following awakening six months later

Failure to inhibit interference from distracting emotional stimuli may obstruct an individual's ability to regulate their behavioural and emotional responses to environmental stressors. Few studies have examined the longitudinal association between cognitive inhibition and regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in the natural environment. Seventy-nine healthy adults underwent two assessments 6 months apart. Participants' ability to suppress interference from distracting emotional stimuli was assessed using a negative affective priming task that included both generic and personally-relevant (i.e., participants' intimate partners) facial expressions of emotion. Poorer inhibition of personally-relevant sad and angry faces, but not generic stimuli, significantly predicted an increased cortisol awakening response (CAR) six months later. Moreover, poor inhibition of personally-relevant sad faces mediated the relation between chronic stress and an elevated CAR. Difficulties inhibiting personally-relevant emotional information may represent a key mechanism in understanding how environmental stress influences HPA functioning.

Automatic detection advantage of problematic Internet users for Wi-Fi signal cues and the moderating effect of negative affect: An event-related potential study

Cognitive bias toward Internet-related cues is an important factor of the formation and maintenance of the addictive behavior of problematic Internet users (PIUs). The development of fiber-optic communication and smartphones has ushered human society into the era of wireless networks. The Wi-Fi signal, the symbol of wireless network connection, represents not only network access but also a channel for communication with others anywhere at any time. Therefore, the Wi-Fi signal cues should be an effective inducer of the addictive behaviors of PIUs. We used images of Wi-Fi signal as Internet-related cues to explore the automatic detection advantage of PIUs for these cues and to determine whether negative affect, another predisposing factor for addiction, can enhance this advantage. We utilized an intergroup design in this study. The PIU and control groups each comprised 30 participants and were randomly assigned to negative or neutral affect priming group. Mismatch negativity (MMN) was induced through the deviant–standard reverse oddball paradigm. Wi-Fi signal cues and neutral cues were used as standard and deviant stimuli, respectively. Results show that the MMN induced by Wi-Fi signal cues in the PIU group was larger than that in the control group. Meanwhile, the MMN induced by Wi-Fi signal cues was considerably enhanced in the PIU group under negative affect priming relative to that in the PIU group under neutral affect priming. Overall, PIUs have an automatic detection advantage for Wi-Fi signal cues, and negative affect can enhance this advantage. Our results suggest that the MMN elicited by Wi-Fi signal cues function as a sensitive neurobiological marker tracing the change of addiction motivation for PIUs.

Automatic detection advantage of problematic Internet users for Wi-Fi signal cues and the moderating effect of negative affect: An event-related potential study

Cognitive bias toward Internet-related cues is an important factor of the formation and maintenance of the addictive behavior of problematic Internet users (PIUs). The development of fiber-optic communication and smartphones has ushered human society into the era of wireless networks. The Wi-Fi signal, the symbol of wireless network connection, represents not only network access but also a channel for communication with others anywhere at any time. Therefore, the Wi-Fi signal cues should be an effective inducer of the addictive behaviors of PIUs. We used images of Wi-Fi signal as Internet-related cues to explore the automatic detection advantage of PIUs for these cues and to determine whether negative affect, another predisposing factor for addiction, can enhance this advantage. We utilized an intergroup design in this study. The PIU and control groups each comprised 30 participants and were randomly assigned to negative or neutral affect priming group. Mismatch negativity (MMN) was induced through the deviant-standard reverse oddball paradigm. Wi-Fi signal cues and neutral cues were used as standard and deviant stimuli, respectively. Results show that the MMN induced by Wi-Fi signal cues in the PIU group was larger than that in the control group. Meanwhile, the MMN induced by Wi-Fi signal cues was considerably enhanced in the PIU group under negative affect priming relative to that in the PIU group under neutral affect priming. Overall, PIUs have an automatic detection advantage for Wi-Fi signal cues, and negative affect can enhance this advantage. Our results suggest that the MMN elicited by Wi-Fi signal cues function as a sensitive neurobiological marker tracing the change of addiction motivation for PIUs.

Poor control of interference from negative content hampers the effectiveness of humour as a source of positive emotional experiences

The brain-based ability to direct attention away from interfering negative information may co-determine to which degree one may benefit from humour as a source of positive emotional experiences. This should be particularly relevant when it comes to humour that implicates a target the joke makes fun of, which inherently entails rivalry between positive and negative emotional representations. One hundred healthy individuals completed a pictorial negative affective priming task and a nonverbal humour processing task. In line with the notion that during the elaborative processing of malicious jokes, interference from negative emotional representations hampers the experience of amusement, participants took more time to judge their amusement evoked by malicious compared to benign jokes. Lesser ability to distract attention from interfering negative emotional representations was associated with slower judgements of amusement following the processing of malicious jokes, as well as with lower amusement ratings. The time it took participants to comprehend the punch-lines was not affected, neither was the immediate, short-lived pleasure after having comprehended the humour, measured by characteristic transient cardiac activation. The findings suggest that the effective use of humour as a source of positive emotional experiences requires the ability to overcome the dark side of typical humour.

Effect of Affective Priming on Prosocial Orientation through Mobile Application: Differences between Digital Immigrants and Natives

Digital revolution has drastically changed people’s lives in the last three decades inspiring scholars to deepen the role of technologies in thinking and information processing (Baranyi et al., 2015). Prensky (2001) has developed the notion of digital generation, differentiating between natives and immigrants. Digital natives are characterised by their highly automatic and quick response in hyper-textual environment. Digital immigrants are characterised by their main focus on textual elements and a greater proneness to reflection. The main goal of the present research is to investigate the effect of affective priming on prosocial orientation in natives and immigrants by using a mobile application. A quasi-experimental study has been conducted to test whether and how the manipulation of the priming, through positively and negatively connoted images, influences prosocial orientation. The results attested that negative affective priming elicited by app influences negatively prosocial orientation, while positive affective priming influences it positively prosocial orientation. However, this effect is true mainly for digital natives. Overall, findings underline the relevance of taking into account the effects of affective priming in technological environment, especially in the case of digital natives.

Mortality salience impairs self-referential processing: Neurophysiological and behavioral evidence

Although recent research has suggested that reminders of mortality may increase behaviors and cognitions associated with escaping the self, this notion has not been directly tested. The current work provides evidence that mortality salience (MS) decreases the brain activity in response to the encoding of self-referential memory (Experiment 1) and impairs subsequent retrieval of self-referential memory (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 (N = 39) used event-related potentials to examine participants’ brain response while they performed trait judgments about the self and a celebrity, after they were primed with either MS or death-irrelevant negative affect (NA). Relative to NA, MS priming significantly attenuated an early frontal positivity at 180–300 ms in response to self- vs. celebrity-referential encoding. In Experiment 2 (N = 177), MS- and NA-primed participants performed the above trait judgment tasks and then completed a recognition test for the previously presented trait adjectives. Relative to NA priming, MS priming impaired recognition of trait adjectives that were associated with the self but not the celebrity. Overall, our findings suggest impaired self-referential processing, or ‘escaping’ the self, as a coping strategy for mortality concerns.

Putting out the blaze: The neural mechanisms underlying sexual inhibition.

The successful inhibition of sexual thoughts, desires, and behaviors represents an essential ability for adequate functioning in our daily life. Evidence derived from lesion studies indicates a link between sexual inhibition and the general ability for behavioral and cognitive control. This is further supported by the high comorbidity of sexual compulsivity with other inhibition-related disorders. Here, we aimed at investigating whether sexual and general inhibition recruit overlapping or distinct neural correlates in the brain. Furthermore, we investigated the specificity of two different kinds of sexual inhibition: inhibition of sexually driven motor responses and inhibition of sexual incoming information. To this end, 22 healthy participants underwent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) while performing a task requiring general response inhibition (Go/No-go), as well as cognitive and motivational sexual inhibition (Negative Affective Priming and Approach-Avoidance task). Our within-subject within-session design enabled the direct statistical comparison between general and sexual inhibitory mechanisms. The general inhibition task recruited mainly prefrontal and insular regions, replicating previous findings. In contrast, the two types of sexual inhibition activated both common and distinct neural networks. Whereas cognitive sexual inhibition engaged the inferior frontal gyrus, the orbitofrontal cortex and the fusiform gyrus, motivational sexual inhibition was characterized by a hypoactivation in the anterolateral prefrontal cortex. Both types of sexual inhibition recruited the inferior frontal gyrus and the inferotemporal cortex. However, the activity of the inferior frontal gyrus did not correlate with behavioral inhibitory scores. These results support the hypothesis of inhibitory processing being an emergent property of a functional network.

Delay discounting and affective priming in individuals with negative schizotypy

Previous studies have demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia and individuals with schizotypy experience decreased anticipatory pleasure. However, it is unclear whether this decrease is contributed by altered reward processing at the proximal or distal future. In order to investigate the preference for receiving rewards in the proximal or distal future for individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, individuals with either high or low levels of negative schizotypy performed a delay discounting task under positive, neutral and negative affective priming conditions. Compared with individuals with low levels of negative schizotypy, individuals with high levels of schizotypy exhibited increased delay discounting, preferring to choose immediate but smaller rewards instead of delayed but larger rewards across all three affective priming conditions. Negative affective priming elevated discounting for both groups compared with both the positive and neutral affective conditions. After dividing delayed temporal distance into the proximal and distal future, the results showed that individuals with high levels of negative schizotypy exhibited more preference for immediate but smaller rewards in the distal instead of proximal future compared with controls. Our results suggest that individuals with high levels of negative schizotypy have altered anticipatory reward processing, which is mainly attributed to alterations in representing rewards in the distal future. These findings extend the alterations in representing reward values from schizophrenia patients to schizotypal individuals, and suggest that diminished anticipatory pleasure in schizophrenia spectrum disorders may be due to changes in processing anticipatory rewards in the distal future.

Reminders of Mortality Alter Pain-Evoked Potentials in a Chinese Sample.

Pain is of evolutionary importance to human survival. However, the perception of pain could be changed when death-related thoughts are accessible. Although the influence of mortality salience (MS) on pain processing has been investigated in Westerners recently, it is unclear whether this effect is constrained by specific culture context since humans may employ cultural worldviews to defend the existence problem. The current study tested whether and how MS affected pain processing in a Chinese male sample. We primed participants with sentences indicating MS or negative affect (NA) on either of two days. Both before and after the priming, event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by painful and non-painful electrical stimulations were recorded. Results showed that pain-evoked potentials were identified as an early negative complex N60-P90-N130 and a late positivity P260. Pain-evoked N130 after MS priming was larger than that after NA priming. Meanwhile, pain-evoked P260 decreased after MS priming but not after NA priming. These findings indicate that reminders of mortality affect both early sensory and late cognitive neural responses related to physical pain. Although previous studies reporting an increased effect of MS on perceived pain intensity in Westerners, we found an unchanged or possibly reduced effect in Chinese. Thus, the current work provides insight into a culture-sensitive perspective on how pain processing would be modulated when existential problem occurs.

The Effect of Emotional Distracters on Target Emotion Judgment and Recognition

본 연구의 목적은 주의를 기울어야 하는 목표자극의 주변에 제시되는 방해자극의 정서가 이후 목표자극의 정서판단과 재인에 미치는 영향을 살펴보는 것이다. 이를 위하여 연구 1에서는 부적 점화 과제를 이용하여 점화자극의 정서가 목표자극의 정서와 일치하는지 여부가 이후 목표자극의 정서판단에 미치는 영향을 살펴보았다. 실험에서 참가자들은 점화시행 시 가운데에 제시되는 사진을 응시하도록 요구받았으며 탐지시행 시는 가운데 사진에 대해 정서판단을 하도록 요구받았다. 실험 결과 무시해야 하는 방해자극이 긍정정서인 경우에는 방해자극이 이후 긍정정서 목표자극의 탐지에 방해를 준 반면, 무시해야 하는 방해자극이 부정정서인 경우에는 오히려 방해자극이 이후 부정정서 목표자극의 탐지에 도움을 주었다. 연구 2에서는 목표자극과 그 주변에 제시되는 방해자극의 정서가 이후 목표자극의 기억에 영향을 미치는 양상을 살펴보았다. 실험 참가자들은 제시되는 사진들 중 가운데 사진에 대해 정서를 판단하면서 그 사진을 기억하도록 요구받았다. 실험 결과 부정정서 목표자극에 대한 재인율이 가장 좋았지만 방해자극이 부정정서인 경우에 그 방해자극을 목표자극으로 잘못 재인하는 경우도 가장 많았다. 본 연구의 결과는 부정정서 자극이 필요시에도 적절히 억제되지 못한다는 점을 보여준다.The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of emotional distracters on target processing. Experiment 1 examined whether emotional distracter affects target processing using a negative affective priming task. As results, the evaluations of positive probe targets were slower when positive distracters were presented in the prime. However, the evaluations of negative probe targets were faster when negative distracters were presented in the prime. The purpose of experiment 2 was to investigate the effect of emotional distracters on target recognition. Participants performed an intentional learning task and then were asked to judge whether each target was shown when they performed the intentional learning task. The result showed that affective targets were better remembered in order of negative emotion, positive emotion, neutral emotion. Interestingly, when negative emotional distracters were presented, they were more commonly regarded as targets. Overall, the two experiments clearly showed that negative distracters are not properly suppressed.

Inhibit My Disinhibition: The Role of the Inferior Frontal Cortex in Sexual Inhibition and the Modulatory Influence of Sexual Excitation Proneness.

Sexual behaviour is the result of an interplay between distinct neural inhibitory and excitatory mechanisms. Individual differences in sexual excitation and sexual inhibition are proposed to play an important role in the processes sustaining the regulation of sexual behaviour. While much research has focused on the neural correlates of response inhibition, highlighting a prominent role of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), very little is known regarding the neural mechanisms underlying different aspects of sexual inhibition. Here, we experimentally combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to: (i) test the functional role of IFG during motivational and cognitive sexual inhibition; and (ii) reveal whether this IFG involvement in sexual inhibitory processes depends on sexual excitation and sexual inhibition as traits. Twenty-two participants performed an Approach-Avoidance (AA) and a Negative Affective Priming (NAP) paradigm to assess motivational and cognitive sexual inhibition respectively. Our fMRI study showed IFG being selectively activated during cognitive but not motivational sexual inhibition. Importantly, the level of this neural activity was modulated by individual sexual excitation scores. Interestingly, a transient disruption of IFG activity using TMS led to an improvement in cognitive, not motivational, sexual inhibition, but only when accounting for individual sexual excitation scores. These findings clearly document that sexual excitation modulates IFG activity levels during cognitive sexual inhibition, and at the same time determines the effects of TMS on IFG by improving cognitive control exclusively for individuals with high sexual excitation scores. These findings provide new insights regarding the functional role of IFG, and underscore the relevance of individual psychological differences in understanding the brain mechanisms underlying socioaffective processes.

Individual Differences in Affective Priming Effects: Any Links with Personality and Trait Affectivity?

Processing tendencies refer to individual differences in the automatic processing of affective stimuli. Using the affective priming paradigm one can tap these processing tendencies and differentiate positive and negative affective priming scores. In this study we used a classical evaluative decision task with nouns as primes and adjectives as targets to assess individual differences in positive and negative affective priming in two time points. Using Steyer’s (Steyer et al. in Methods of Psychological Research Online 2(1), 21–33, 1997) true intraindividual change modeling approach, the positive and negative priming scores were defined on a latent level. No significant relationships were found between positive affective priming and trait positive affect nor extraversion, as well as between negative affective priming and trait negative affect and neuroticism. As these findings are not in line with previous research (Robinson et al. in Emotion 10(5), 615–626, 2010; Robinson et al. in Personality and Individual Differences 42(7), 1221–1231, 2007) possible moderating influences are discussed.

Mortality salience reduces the discrimination between in-group and out-group interactions: A functional MRI investigation using multi-voxel pattern analysis.

As a fundamental concern of human beings, mortality salience impacts various human social behaviors including intergroup interactions; however, the underlying neural signature remains obscure. Here, we examined the neural signatures underlying the impact of mortality reminders on in-group bias in costly punishment combining a second-party punishment task with multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data. After mortality salience (MS) priming or general negative affect priming, participants received offers from racial in-group and out-group proposers and decided how to punish proposers by reducing their payoffs. We revealed that MS priming attenuated in-group bias and dampened the discriminated activation patterns pertaining to group identities in regions previously implicated in costly punishment, including dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, temporo-parietal junction, anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The group identity represented in multivariate patterns of activity of these regions predicted in-group bias for the control condition, i.e., the stronger discriminative representations of group identities in these regions; the larger was the in-group bias. Furthermore, the in-group bias was reliably decoded by distributed activation patterns in the punishment-related networks but only in the control condition and not in the MS condition. These findings elucidate the neural underpinnings of the effects of mortality reminders on intergroup interaction. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1281-1298, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.