Abstract
Although spatial attention is known to gate emotion perception, how intergroup biases dynamically modulate this attentional process remains unclear. This study investigated how spatial attention modulates same-culture/race bias in emotion perception by examining whether preferential processing of ingroup emotional expressions depends on attentional focus. Using a modified spatial attention paradigm with racially diverse facial expressions, we measured neural responses (N170, P3, mu suppression) via electroencephalography (EEG) during emotion recognition and line-length discrimination tasks. Preregistered hypotheses predicted attention-dependent emotional processing showing ingroup bias through three neural components. A college sample (N = 37) of East Asian and White participants completed both tasks while EEG was recorded. Behavioral results provided the first direct evidence that spatial attention gates ingroup bias in emotion perception. The ingroup advantage (lower error rates for ingroup facial expressions) was eliminated during line discrimination, demonstrating that behavioral expressions of group bias require focal attention to social cues. At the neural level, early structural encoding (N170) showed automatic ingroup advantages, faster latency across both tasks. While we replicated findings of P3 sensitivity to emotions and mu suppression to facial expressions, neither component showed the expected ingroup bias or attention modulation. Exploratory analyses suggested East Asian participants exhibited stronger ingroup bias than White participants, potentially reflecting cultural patterns in group bias. Together, these findings suggest although initial face encoding is socially dynamic, subsequent emotional evaluation and sensorimotor resonance operate similarly across groups and are unaffected by attentional demands.