is racial prejudice innate and natural? Consider the biological roots of
such behavior - can it be a survival mechanism? Read on and decide for
yourself:

Brain scan 'identifies race bias among white people'

A brain scan that can apparently root out racists has been developed by
scientists.

The technique was used on white volunteers shown photographs of black
individuals.

In those with racist tendencies, a surge of activity was seen in part of the
brain that controls thoughts and behaviour. Scientists believe this
reflected volunteers' attempts to to curb their latent racism.

After interacting with real black individuals, the same group performed
poorly in a task designed to test mental resources.

The American researchers concluded that harbouring racial prejudice, even
unintentionally, stirred up an inner struggle that exhausted the brain.

Dr Jennifer Richeson, assistant professor of psychological and brain
sciences at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, said: "We were
surprised to find brain activity in response to faces of black individuals
predicted how research participants performed on cognitive tasks after
actual interracial interactions."

The scientists first measured the racial bias of 30 white individuals using
a standard technique.

Volunteers were given a computer test to record the ease with which they
associated with white and black racial groups with concepts that were
positive or negative. Those with higher levels of racial bias took longer to
associate white people with negative concepts and black people with positive
concepts.

The study participants were then asked to interact with either a white or a
black individual. Afterwards, they underwent a test which involved making a
mental effort to inhibit instinctive responses.

The scan experiment employed a technique called functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) to map brain activity.