The Amygdala

The vACC is a processor of negative social information because it has been measured to be active during negative self-relevant trait words or in clinical depressions (Moran, Macrae, Heatherton, Wyland, & Kelley, 2006).

Furthermore, during the negative stereotype situation the left inferior temporal gyrus got activated, which processes advanced tasks (Kanwisher et al., 1997 in Wraga, 2006), as well as the right inferior and left superior parietal lobule spatial processing area (Wraga, 2006). The last two regions of activation in stereotype threat were the left fusiform gyrus and cerebellum (Wraga, 2006). The activation of the cerebellum, as well as the caudate and thalamus are equally recorded in the control participant group (Krendl et al.,

The amygdala supports declarative memories about emotional events by heightened activity in the hippocampus (Garrett, 2011). The amygdala together with the hippocampus, cingulate gyrus, thalamus, hypothalamus and other organs form the limbic system, which is located in the medial temporal lobe (Mastin, 2010). The recall of facts and knowledge, which is caused by the declarative memory, explains the development of negative feelings because the stereotype stimulation reminds the individual about the stereotype.

Wraga (2006) showed that negative stereotype results in worse performance due to the self-conscious emotions of the participants and the “elicitation of gender stereotypes” combined with negative emotional processing. This also explains the recruitment of the amygdala due to its association with fear and negative emotions (LeDoux, 2000 in Wraga, 2006). The negative emotions are explained by the fact that women develop more domain-specific negative thoughts when confronted with a stereotype threat (Cadinu, Maass, Rosabianca, & Kiesner, 2005 in Krendl et al.,

The released information, when the stereotype is triggered, the information takes over the space that is needed during the test. Schmader and Johns (2003) tested in three independent studies 33 Latinos ad 44 Caucasian female psychology student on their reduced working memory capacity induced by a negative stereotype and the third group on the mediating effects on women’s math performance due to the reduced working memory capacity. All three studies showed that performing under the influence of a negative stereotype diminish the cognitive resources of the stereotyped participants and this will be shown in the impaired performance on academic test in this