201
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Bente G, Leuschner H, Issa AA, Blascovich JJ. The others: Universals and cultural specificities in the perception of status and dominance from nonverbal behavior. Conscious Cogn 2010; 19:762-77. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2010.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2009] [Revised: 03/28/2010] [Accepted: 06/06/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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202
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Abstract
The study of culture and self casts psychology’s understanding of the self, identity, or agency as central to the analysis and interpretation of behavior and demonstrates that cultures and selves define and build upon each other in an ongoing cycle of mutual constitution. In a selective review of theoretical and empirical work, we define self and what the self does, define culture and how it constitutes the self (and vice versa), define independence and interdependence and determine how they shape psychological functioning, and examine the continuing challenges and controversies in the study of culture and self. We propose that a self is the “me” at the center of experience—a continually developing sense of awareness and agency that guides actions and takes shape as the individual, both brain and body, becomes attuned to various environments. Selves incorporate the patterning of their various environments and thus confer particular and culture-specific form and function to the psychological processes they organize (e.g., attention, perception, cognition, emotion, motivation, interpersonal relationship, group). In turn, as selves engage with their sociocultural contexts, they reinforce and sometimes change the ideas, practices, and institutions of these environments.
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203
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Abstract
AbstractThe compelling case that Anderson makes for neural reuse and against modularity as organizing principle of the brain is further supported by evidence from developmental disorders. However, to provide a full evolutionary-developmental theory of neural reuse that encompasses both typical and atypical development, Anderson's “massive redeployment hypothesis” (MRH) could be further constrained by considering brain development across ontogeny.
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204
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Goh JOS, Leshikar ED, Sutton BP, Tan JC, Sim SKY, Hebrank AC, Park DC. Culture differences in neural processing of faces and houses in the ventral visual cortex. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2010; 5:227-35. [PMID: 20558408 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral and eye-tracking studies on cultural differences have found that while Westerners have a bias for analytic processing and attend more to face features, East Asians are more holistic and attend more to contextual scenes. In this neuroimaging study, we hypothesized that these culturally different visual processing styles would be associated with cultural differences in the selective activity of the fusiform regions for faces, and the parahippocampal and lingual regions for contextual stimuli. East Asians and Westerners passively viewed face and house stimuli during an functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment. As expected, we observed more selectivity for faces in Westerners in the left fusiform face area (FFA) reflecting a more analytic processing style. Additionally, Westerners showed bilateral activity to faces in the FFA whereas East Asians showed more right lateralization. In contrast, no cultural differences were detected in the parahippocampal place area (PPA), although there was a trend for East Asians to show greater house selectivity than Westerners in the lingual landmark area, consistent with more holistic processing in East Asians. These findings demonstrate group biases in Westerners and East Asians that operate on perceptual processing in the brain and are consistent with previous eye-tracking data that show cultural biases to faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua O S Goh
- Beckman Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
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205
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Domínguez Duque JF, Turner R, Lewis ED, Egan G. Neuroanthropology: a humanistic science for the study of the culture-brain nexus. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2010; 5:138-47. [PMID: 19654141 PMCID: PMC2894669 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2008] [Accepted: 05/24/2009] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In this article, we argue that a combined anthropology/neuroscience field of enquiry can make a significant and distinctive contribution to the study of the relationship between culture and the brain. This field, which can appropriately be termed as neuroanthropology, is conceived of as being complementary to and mutually informative with social and cultural neuroscience. We start by providing an introduction to the culture concept in anthropology. We then present a detailed characterization of neuroanthropology and its methods and how they relate to the anthropological understanding of culture. The field is described as a humanistic science, that is, a field of enquiry founded on the perceived epistemological and methodological interdependence of science and the humanities. We also provide examples that illustrate the proposed methodological model for neuroanthropology. We conclude with a discussion about specific contributions the field can make to the study of the culture-brain nexus.
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206
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Choudhury S. Culturing the adolescent brain: what can neuroscience learn from anthropology? Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2010; 5:159-67. [PMID: 19959484 PMCID: PMC2894667 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Cultural neuroscience is set to flourish in the next few years. As the field develops, it is necessary to reflect on what is meant by 'culture' and how this can be translated for the laboratory context. This article uses the example of the adolescent brain to discuss three aspects of culture that may help us to shape and reframe questions, interpretations and applications in cultural neuroscience: cultural contingencies of categories, cultural differences in experience and cultural context of neuroscience research. The last few years have seen a sudden increase in the study of adolescence as a period of both structural and functional plasticity, with new brain-based explanations of teenage behaviour being taken up in education, policy and medicine. However, the concept of adolescence, as an object of behavioural science, took shape relatively recently, not much more than a hundred years ago and was shaped by a number of cultural and historical factors. Moreover, research in anthropology and cross-cultural psychology has shown that the experience of adolescence, as a period of the lifespan, is variable and contingent upon culture. The emerging field of cultural neuroscience has begun to tackle the question of cultural differences in social cognitive processing in adults. In this article, I explore what a cultural neuroscience can mean in the case of adolescence. I consider how to integrate perspectives from social neuroscience and anthropology to conceptualize, and to empirically study, adolescence as a culturally variable phenomenon, which, itself, has been culturally constructed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suparna Choudhury
- Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, 22 Boltzmannstrasse, Dahlem, Berlin, Germany.
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207
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Kitayama S, Park J. Cultural neuroscience of the self: understanding the social grounding of the brain. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2010; 5:111-29. [PMID: 20592042 PMCID: PMC2894676 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2009] [Accepted: 05/24/2010] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Cultural neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field of research that investigates interrelations among culture, mind and the brain. Drawing on both the growing body of scientific evidence on cultural variation in psychological processes and the recent development of social and cognitive neuroscience, this emerging field of research aspires to understand how culture as an amalgam of values, meanings, conventions, and artifacts that constitute daily social realities might interact with the mind and its underlying brain pathways of each individual member of the culture. In this article, following a brief review of studies that demonstrate the surprising degree to which brain processes are malleably shaped by cultural tools and practices, the authors discuss cultural variation in brain processes involved in self-representations, cognition, emotion and motivation. They then propose (i) that primary values of culture such as independence and interdependence are reflected in the compositions of cultural tasks (i.e. daily routines designed to accomplish the cultural values) and further (ii) that active and sustained engagement in these tasks yields culturally patterned neural activities of the brain, thereby laying the ground for the embodied construction of the self and identity. Implications for research on culture and the brain are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shinobu Kitayama
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
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208
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Rosner JL, Hong YY. Lay Theories of Racial Difference Make a Difference. PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY 2010. [DOI: 10.1080/1047840x.2010.481963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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209
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210
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211
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Abstract
Cultural neuroscience issues from the apparently incompatible combination of neuroscience and cultural psychology. A brief literature sampling suggests, instead, several preliminary topics that demonstrate proof of possibilities: cultural differences in both lower-level processes (e.g. perception, number representation) and higher-order processes (e.g. inferring others' emotions, contemplating the self) are beginning to shed new light on both culture and cognition. Candidates for future cultural neuroscience research include cultural variations in the default (resting) network, which may be social; regulation and inhibition of feelings, thoughts, and actions; prejudice and dehumanization; and neural signatures of fundamental warmth and competence judgments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel L Ames
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton New Jersey, USA
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212
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McKone E, Aimola Davies A, Fernando D, Aalders R, Leung H, Wickramariyaratne T, Platow MJ. Asia has the global advantage: Race and visual attention. Vision Res 2010; 50:1540-9. [PMID: 20488198 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2010.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 118] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2009] [Revised: 04/24/2010] [Accepted: 05/12/2010] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
In studies of visual attention, and related aspects of cognition, race (continent/s of ancestry) of participants is typically not reported, implying that authors consider this variable irrelevant to outcomes. However, there exist several findings of perceptual differences between East Asians and Caucasian Westerners that can be interpreted as relative differences in global versus local distribution of attention. Here, we used Navon figures (e.g., large E made up of small Vs) to provide the first direct comparison of global-local processing using a standard method from the attention literature. Relative to Caucasians, East Asians showed a strong global advantage. Further, this extended to the second generation (Asian-Australians), although weakened compared to recent immigrants. Our results argue participants' race should be reported in all studies about, or involving, visual attention to spatially distributed stimuli: to continue to ignore race risks adding noise to data and/or drawing invalid theoretical conclusions by mixing functionally distinct populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elinor McKone
- Department of Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
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213
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Chee MWL, Zheng H, Goh JOS, Park D, Sutton BP. Brain structure in young and old East Asians and Westerners: comparisons of structural volume and cortical thickness. J Cogn Neurosci 2010; 23:1065-79. [PMID: 20433238 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2010.21513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
There is an emergent literature suggesting that East Asians and Westerners differ in cognitive processes because of cultural biases to process information holistically (East Asians) or analytically (Westerners). To evaluate the possibility that such differences are accompanied by differences in brain structure, we conducted a large comparative study on cognitively matched young and old adults from two cultural/ethnic groups--Chinese Singaporeans and non-Asian Americans--that involved a total of 140 persons. Young predominantly White American adults were found to have higher cortical thickness in frontal, parietal, and medial-temporal polymodal association areas in both hemispheres. These findings were replicated using voxel-based morphometry applied to the same data set. Differences in cortical thickness observed between young volunteers were not significant in older subjects as a whole. However, group differences were evident when high-performing old were compared. Although the observed differences in gray matter may be rooted in strategic differences in cognition arising from ethnic/cultural differences, alternative explanations involving genetic heritage and environmental factors are also considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Wei Liang Chee
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, College Road, 7 Hospital Drive, Block B, 169857 Singapore, Singapore.
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214
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Aron A, Ketay S, Hedden T, Aron EN, Rose Markus H, Gabrieli JDE. Temperament trait of sensory processing sensitivity moderates cultural differences in neural response. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2010; 5:219-26. [PMID: 20388694 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
This study focused on a possible temperament-by-culture interaction. Specifically, it explored whether a basic temperament/personality trait (sensory processing sensitivity; SPS), perhaps having a genetic component, might moderate a previously established cultural difference in neural responses when making context-dependent vs context-independent judgments of simple visual stimuli. SPS has been hypothesized to underlie what has been called inhibitedness or reactivity in infants, introversion in adults, and reactivity or responsivness in diverse animal species. Some biologists view the trait as one of two innate strategies-observing carefully before acting vs being first to act. Thus the central characteristic of SPS is hypothesized to be a deep processing of information. Here, 10 European-Americans and 10 East Asians underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing simple visuospatial tasks emphasizing judgments that were either context independent (typically easier for Americans) or context dependent (typically easier for Asians). As reported elsewhere, each group exhibited greater activation for the culturally non-preferred task in frontal and parietal regions associated with greater effort in attention and working memory. However, further analyses, reported here for the first time, provided preliminary support for moderation by SPS. Consistent with the careful-processing theory, high-SPS individuals showed little cultural difference; low-SPS, strong culture differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arthur Aron
- Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500, USA.
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215
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Northoff G. Humans, brains, and their environment: marriage between neuroscience and anthropology? Neuron 2010; 65:748-51. [PMID: 20346752 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.02.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
How do we define ourselves as humans and interact with our various environments? Recently, neuroscience has extended into other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, questioning the existence of distinct disciplines like anthropology, which describes the relationship between humans and their various environments. However, rather than being incorporated into neuroscience, anthropology may be considered complementary, and a marriage of the two disciplines can provide deep insight into these fundamental questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georg Northoff
- Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa K1Z 7K4, Canada.
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216
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Wu Y, Wang C, He X, Mao L, Zhang L. Religious beliefs influence neural substrates of self-reflection in Tibetans. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2010; 5:324-31. [PMID: 20197287 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous transcultural neuroimaging studies have shown that the neural substrates of self-reflection can be shaped by different cultures. There are few studies, however, on the neural activity of self-reflection where religion is viewed as a form of cultural expression. The present study examined the self-processing of two Chinese ethnic groups (Han and Tibetan) to investigate the significant role of religion on the functional anatomy of self-representation. We replicated the previous results in Han participants with the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and left anterior cingulate cortex showing stronger activation in self-processing when compared with other-processing conditions. However, no typical self-reference pattern was identified in Tibetan participants on behavioral or neural levels. This could be explained by the minimal subjective sense of 'I-ness' in Tibetan Buddhists. Our findings lend support to the presumed role of culture and religion in shaping the neural substrate of self.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanhong Wu
- Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, PR China.
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217
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Gutchess AH, Hedden T, Ketay S, Aron A, Gabrieli JDE. Neural differences in the processing of semantic relationships across cultures. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2010; 5:254-63. [PMID: 20139116 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The current study employed functional MRI to investigate the contribution of domain-general (e.g. executive functions) and domain-specific (e.g. semantic knowledge) processes to differences in semantic judgments across cultures. Previous behavioral experiments have identified cross-cultural differences in categorization, with East Asians preferring strategies involving thematic or functional relationships (e.g. cow-grass) and Americans preferring categorical relationships (e.g. cow-chicken). East Asians and American participants underwent functional imaging while alternating between categorical or thematic strategies to sort triads of words, as well as matching words on control trials. Many similarities were observed. However, across both category and relationship trials compared to match (control) trials, East Asians activated a frontal-parietal network implicated in controlled executive processes, whereas Americans engaged regions of the temporal lobes and the cingulate, possibly in response to conflict in the semantic content of information. The results suggest that cultures differ in the strategies employed to resolve conflict between competing semantic judgments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela H Gutchess
- Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454-9110, USA.
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218
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Building and Testing Theories: Experiences from Conducting Social Identity Research. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2010. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2010.00022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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219
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Ge J, Gu X, Ji M, Han S. Neurocognitive processes of the religious leader in Christians. Hum Brain Mapp 2010; 30:4012-24. [PMID: 19507157 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Our recent work suggests that trait judgment of the self in Christians, relative to nonreligious subjects, is characterized by weakened neural coding of stimulus self-relatedness in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) but enhanced evaluative processes of self-referential stimuli in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC). The current study tested the hypothesis that Christian belief and practice produce a trait summary about the religious leader (Jesus) in the believers and thus episodic memory retrieval is involved to the minimum degree when making trait judgment of Jesus. Experiment 1 showed that to recall a specific incident to exemplify Jesus' trait facilitated behavioral performances associated with the following trait judgment of Jesus in nonreligious subjects but not in Christians. Experiment 2 showed that, for nonreligious subjects, trait judgments of both government and religious leaders resulted in enhanced functional connectivity between MPFC and posterior parietal cortex (PPC)/precuneus compared with self judgment. For Christian subjects, however, the functional connectivity between MPFC and PPC/precuneus differentiated between trait judgments of the government leader and the self but not between trait judgments of Jesus and the self. Our findings suggest that Christian belief and practice modulate the neurocognitive processes of the religious leader so that trait judgment of Jesus engages increased employment of semantic trait summary but decreased memory retrieval of behavioral episodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianqiao Ge
- Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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220
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Jenkins LJ, Yang YJ, Goh J, Hong YY, Park DC. Cultural differences in the lateral occipital complex while viewing incongruent scenes. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2010; 5:236-41. [PMID: 20083532 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Converging behavioral and neuroimaging evidence indicates that culture influences the processing of complex visual scenes. Whereas Westerners focus on central objects and tend to ignore context, East Asians process scenes more holistically, attending to the context in which objects are embedded. We investigated cultural differences in contextual processing by manipulating the congruence of visual scenes presented in an fMR-adaptation paradigm. We hypothesized that East Asians would show greater adaptation to incongruent scenes, consistent with their tendency to process contextual relationships more extensively than Westerners. Sixteen Americans and 16 native Chinese were scanned while viewing sets of pictures consisting of a focal object superimposed upon a background scene. In half of the pictures objects were paired with congruent backgrounds, and in the other half objects were paired with incongruent backgrounds. We found that within both the right and left lateral occipital complexes, Chinese participants showed significantly greater adaptation to incongruent scenes than to congruent scenes relative to American participants. These results suggest that Chinese were more sensitive to contextual incongruity than were Americans and that they reacted to incongruent object/background pairings by focusing greater attention on the object.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas J Jenkins
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
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221
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Losin EAR, Dapretto M, Iacoboni M. Culture and neuroscience: additive or synergistic? Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2010; 5:148-58. [PMID: 20083533 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The investigation of cultural phenomena using neuroscientific methods-cultural neuroscience (CN)-is receiving increasing attention. Yet it is unclear whether the integration of cultural study and neuroscience is merely additive, providing additional evidence of neural plasticity in the human brain, or truly synergistic, yielding discoveries that neither discipline could have achieved alone. We discuss how the parent fields to CN: cross-cultural psychology, psychological anthropology and cognitive neuroscience inform the investigation of the role of cultural experience in shaping the brain. Drawing on well-established methodologies from cross-cultural psychology and cognitive neuroscience, we outline a set of guidelines for CN, evaluate 17 CN studies in terms of these guidelines, and provide a summary table of our results. We conclude that the combination of culture and neuroscience is both additive and synergistic; while some CN methodologies and findings will represent the direct union of information from parent fields, CN studies employing the methodological rigor required by this logistically challenging new field have the potential to transform existing methodologies and produce unique findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A Reynolds Losin
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
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222
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Raz A, Wolfson JB. From Dynamic Lesions to Brain Imaging of Behavioral Lesions: Alloying the Gold of Psychoanalysis with the Copper of Suggestion. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010. [DOI: 10.1080/15294145.2010.10773621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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223
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Seligman R, Brown RA. Theory and method at the intersection of anthropology and cultural neuroscience. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2009; 5:130-7. [PMID: 19965815 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Anthropologists have become increasingly interested in embodiment-that is, the ways that socio-cultural factors influence the form, behavior and subjective experience of human bodies. At the same time, social cognitive neuroscience has begun to reveal the mechanisms of embodiment by investigating the neural underpinnings and consequences of social experience. Despite this overlap, the two fields have barely engaged one another. We suggest three interconnected domains of inquiry in which the intersection of neuroscience and anthropology can productively inform our understanding of the relationship between human brains and their socio-cultural contexts. These are: the social construction of emotion, cultural psychiatry, and the embodiment of ritual. We build on both current research findings in cultural neuroscience and ethnographic data on cultural differences in thought and behavior, to generate novel, ecologically informed hypotheses for future study. In addition, we lay out a specific suggestion for operationalizing insights from anthropology in the context of cultural neuroscience research. Specifically, we advocate the development of field studies that use portable measurement technologies to connect individual patterns of biological response with socio-cultural processes. We illustrate the potential of such an approach with data from a study of psychophysiology and religious devotion in Northeastern Brazil.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Seligman
- Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
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224
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Ishii K, Kobayashi Y, Kitayama S. Interdependence modulates the brain response to word-voice incongruity. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2009; 5:307-17. [PMID: 19959483 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Social orientation (interdependence as opposed to independence) has been suggested as a major cultural dimension. In the present work, we used a specific stimulus-locked component of electroencephalogram and found, for the first time, that the perceiver's social orientation modulates the brain response to incongruity of word meaning to attendant vocal tone. Participants judged the verbal meaning of emotionally spoken emotional words while ignoring the vocal tone. As predicted, there was a greater negative event-related potential between 450 and 900 ms after the stimulus onset when the verbal content was incongruous with the background vocal tone, relative to when the two were congruous. Of importance, this incongruity-based late negativity was larger when participants were unobtrusively exposed to schematic human faces while listening to the stimulus words and for females than for males. Moreover, this late negativity was reliably predicted by chronic social orientation for females, but not for males and in the face condition, but not in the no-face control condition. Implications for future work on culture are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keiko Ishii
- Center for Experimental Research in Social Sciences, Hokkaido University, N10W7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Japan.
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225
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Abstract
Self-construals are different between Western and East Asian cultures in that the Western self emphasizes self-focused attention more, whereas the East Asian self stresses the fundamental social connections between people more. To investigate whether such cultural difference in self-related processing extends to face recognition, we recorded event-related potentials from British and Chinese subjects while they judged head orientations of their own face or a familiar face in visual displays. For the British, the own-face induced faster responses and a larger negative activity at 280-340 ms over the frontal-central area (N2) relative to the familiar face. In contrast, the Chinese showed weakened self-advantage in behavioral responses and reduced anterior N2 amplitude to the own-face compared with the familiar face. Our findings suggest that enhanced social salience of one's own face results in different neurocognitive processes of self-recognition in Western and Chinese cultures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Sui
- University of Hull, Hull, UK.
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226
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Lavazza A, De Caro M. Not so Fast. On Some Bold Neuroscientific Claims Concerning Human Agency. NEUROETHICS-NETH 2009. [DOI: 10.1007/s12152-009-9053-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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227
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Aarts H, Oikawa M, Oikawa H. Cultural and Universal Routes to Authorship Ascription: Effects of Outcome Priming on Experienced Self-Agency in the Netherlands and Japan. JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 2009. [DOI: 10.1177/0022022109349511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The experience of self-agency is a fundamental feature of human experience. Recent research has suggested that self-agency experiences are driven by an unconscious authorship ascription process that relies on an online match between accessible outcome representations and the production of the outcome. Extending this work, this study explores the role of culture in the manifestation of this unconscious authorship ascription process by testing whether subliminal priming of the outcome of an action prior to occurrence increased experiences of self-agency in Dutch and Japanese participants. Results show that outcome priming enhances the experience of self-agency independently of cultural background. However, Dutch participants experienced higher levels of self-agency than did Japanese participants, and this cultural effect was mediated by differences in beliefs of self-determination.These findings suggest that the experience of self-agency has a universal, nonconscious component that operates independently from a more cultural one, reflecting differences in conscious beliefs about the role of the self in choice and control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henk Aarts
- Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands,
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Bakare MO, Ubochi VN, Okoroikpa IN, Aguocha CM, Ebigbo PO. Agreement between clinicians' and care givers' assessment of intelligence in Nigerian children with intellectual disability: 'ratio IQ' as a viable option in the absence of standardized 'deviance IQ' tests in sub-Saharan Africa. Behav Brain Funct 2009; 5:39. [PMID: 19754953 PMCID: PMC2752456 DOI: 10.1186/1744-9081-5-39] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2009] [Accepted: 09/15/2009] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND There may be need to assess intelligent quotient (IQ) scores in sub-Saharan African children with intellectual disability, either for the purpose of educational needs assessment or research. However, modern intelligence scales developed in the western parts of the world suffer limitation of widespread use because of the influence of socio-cultural variations across the world. This study examined the agreement between IQ scores estimation among Nigerian children with intellectual disability using clinicians' judgment based on International Classification of Diseases, tenth Edition(ICD - 10) criteria for mental retardation and caregivers judgment based on 'ratio IQ' scores calculated from estimated mental age in the context of socio-cultural milieu of the children. It proposed a viable option of IQ score assessment among sub-Saharan African children with intellectual disability, using a ratio of culture-specific estimated mental age and chronological age of the child in the absence of standardized alternatives, borne out of great diversity in socio-cultural context of sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS Clinicians and care-givers independently assessed the children in relation to their socio-cultural background. Clinicians assessed the IQ scores of the children based on the ICD - 10 diagnostic criteria for mental retardation. 'Ratio IQ' scores were calculated from the ratio of estimated mental age and chronological age of each child. The IQ scores as assessed by the clinicians were then compared with the 'ratio IQ' scores using correlation statistics. RESULTS A total of forty-four (44) children with intellectual disability were assessed. There was a significant correlation between clinicians' assessed IQ scores and the 'ratio IQ' scores employing zero order correlation without controlling for the chronological age of the children (r = 0.47, df = 42, p = 0.001). First order correlation controlling for the chronological age of the children showed higher correlation score between clinicians' assessed IQ scores and 'ratio IQ' scores (r = 0.75, df = 41, p = 0.000). CONCLUSION Agreement between clinicians' assessed IQ scores and 'ratio IQ' scores was good. 'Ratio IQ' test would provide a viable option of assessing IQ scores in sub-Saharan African children with intellectual disability in the absence of culture-appropriate standardized intelligence scales, which is often the case because of great diversity in socio-cultural structures of sub-Saharan Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muideen O Bakare
- Child and Adolescent Unit, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, New Haven, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria.
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229
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Kim HS, Sherman DK, Taylor SE, Sasaki JY, Chu TQ, Ryu C, Suh EM, Xu J. Culture, serotonin receptor polymorphism and locus of attention. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2009; 5:212-8. [PMID: 19736291 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The present research examined the interaction between genes and culture as potential determinants of individuals' locus of attention. As the serotonin (5-HT) system has been associated with attentional focus and the ability to adapt to changes in reinforcement, we examined the serotonin 1A receptor polymorphism (5-HTR1A). Koreans and European Americans were genotyped and reported their chronic locus of attention. There was a significant interaction between 5-HTR1A genotype and culture in the locus of attention. Koreans reported attending to the field more than European Americans, and this cultural difference was moderated by 5-HTR1A. There was a linear pattern such that those homozygous for the G allele, which is associated with reduced ability to adapt to changes in reinforcement, more strongly endorsed the culturally reinforced mode of thinking than those homozygous for the C allele, with those heterozygous in the middle. Our findings suggest that the same genetic predisposition can result in divergent psychological outcomes, depending on an individual's cultural context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heejung S Kim
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660, USA.
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230
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Jack RE, Blais C, Scheepers C, Schyns PG, Caldara R. Cultural confusions show that facial expressions are not universal. Curr Biol 2009; 19:1543-8. [PMID: 19682907 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.07.051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 242] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2009] [Revised: 07/12/2009] [Accepted: 07/13/2009] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Central to all human interaction is the mutual understanding of emotions, achieved primarily by a set of biologically rooted social signals evolved for this purpose-facial expressions of emotion. Although facial expressions are widely considered to be the universal language of emotion, some negative facial expressions consistently elicit lower recognition levels among Eastern compared to Western groups (see [4] for a meta-analysis and [5, 6] for review). Here, focusing on the decoding of facial expression signals, we merge behavioral and computational analyses with novel spatiotemporal analyses of eye movements, showing that Eastern observers use a culture-specific decoding strategy that is inadequate to reliably distinguish universal facial expressions of "fear" and "disgust." Rather than distributing their fixations evenly across the face as Westerners do, Eastern observers persistently fixate the eye region. Using a model information sampler, we demonstrate that by persistently fixating the eyes, Eastern observers sample ambiguous information, thus causing significant confusion. Our results question the universality of human facial expressions of emotion, highlighting their true complexity, with critical consequences for cross-cultural communication and globalization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael E Jack
- Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QB, Scotland, UK.
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231
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Han S, Gu X, Mao L, Ge J, Wang G, Ma Y. Neural substrates of self-referential processing in Chinese Buddhists. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2009; 5:332-9. [PMID: 19620181 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Our recent work showed that self-trait judgment is associated with increased activity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) in non-religious Chinese, but in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) in Chinese Christians. The current work further investigated neural substrates of self-referential processing in Chinese Buddhists. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we scanned 14 Chinese Buddhists, while they conducted trait judgments of the self, Zhu Rongji (the former Chinese premier), Sakyamuni (the Buddhist leader) and Jesus (the Christian leader). We found that, relative to Zhu Rongji judgment, self-judgment in Buddhist participants failed to generate increased activation in the VMPFC but induced increased activations in the DMPFC/rostral anterior cingulate cortex, midcingulate and the left frontal/insular cortex. Self-judgment was also associated with decreased functional connectivity between the DMPFC and posterior parietal cortex compared with Zhu Rongji judgment. The results suggest that Buddhist doctrine of No-self results in weakened neural coding of stimulus self-relatedness in the VMPFC, but enhanced evaluative processes of self-referential stimuli in the DMPFC. Moreover, self-referential processing in Buddhists is characterized by monitoring the conflict between the doctrine of No-self and self-focus thinking during self-trait judgment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shihui Han
- Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
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233
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Abstract
In recent years, several neuroimaging studies have suggested that the neural basis of the self-referential process1 is special, especially in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). However, it remains controversial whether activity of the MPFC (and other related brain regions) appears only during the self-referential process. We investigated the neural correlates during the processing of references to the self, close other (friend), and distant other (prime minister) using fMRI. In comparison with baseline findings, referential processing to the three kinds of persons defined above showed common activation patterns in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), left middle temporal gyrus, left angular gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex and right cerebellum. Additionally, percent changes in BOLD signal in five regions of interest demonstrated the same findings. The result indicated that DMPFC was not special for the self-referential process, while there are common neural bases for evaluating the personalities of the self and others.
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234
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Derntl B, Habel U, Robinson S, Windischberger C, Kryspin-Exner I, Gur RC, Moser E. Amygdala activation during recognition of emotions in a foreign ethnic group is associated with duration of stay. Soc Neurosci 2009; 4:294-307. [DOI: 10.1080/17470910802571633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Birgit Derntl
- a Medical University of Vienna, and University of Vienna , Vienna, Austria
- b RWTH Aachen University , Aachen, Germany
| | - Ute Habel
- b RWTH Aachen University , Aachen, Germany
- c Medical University of Vienna , Vienna, Austria
| | - Simon Robinson
- c Medical University of Vienna , Vienna, Austria
- d University of Trento , Mattarello, Italy
| | | | | | - Ruben C. Gur
- f University of Pennsylvania Medical School , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Ewald Moser
- c Medical University of Vienna , Vienna, Austria
- f University of Pennsylvania Medical School , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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Freeman JB, Rule NO, Adams RB, Ambady N. Culture shapes a mesolimbic response to signals of dominance and subordination that associates with behavior. Neuroimage 2009; 47:353-9. [PMID: 19376242 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.04.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2008] [Revised: 01/08/2009] [Accepted: 04/08/2009] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
It has long been understood that culture shapes individuals' behavior, but how this is accomplished in the human brain has remained largely unknown. To examine this, we made use of a well-established cross-cultural difference in behavior: American culture tends to reinforce dominant behavior whereas, conversely, Japanese culture tends to reinforce subordinate behavior. In 17 Americans and 17 Japanese individuals, we assessed behavioral tendencies towards dominance versus subordination and measured neural responses using fMRI during the passive viewing of stimuli related to dominance and subordination. In Americans, dominant stimuli selectively engaged the caudate nucleus, bilaterally, and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), whereas these were selectively engaged by subordinate stimuli in Japanese. Correspondingly, Americans self-reported a tendency towards more dominant behavior whereas Japanese self-reported a tendency towards more subordinate behavior. Moreover, activity in the right caudate and mPFC correlated with behavioral tendencies towards dominance versus subordination, such that stronger responses in the caudate and mPFC to dominant stimuli were associated with more dominant behavior and stronger responses in the caudate and mPFC to subordinate stimuli were associated with more subordinate behavior. The findings provide a first demonstration that culture can flexibly shape functional activity in the mesolimbic reward system, which in turn may guide behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan B Freeman
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
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237
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Kazandjian S, Chokron S. Paying attention to reading direction. Nat Rev Neurosci 2009; 9:965; author reply 965. [PMID: 19020515 DOI: 10.1038/nrn2456-c1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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238
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Choudhury S, Kirmayer LJ. Cultural neuroscience and psychopathology: prospects for cultural psychiatry. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2009; 178:263-83. [PMID: 19874976 PMCID: PMC5161496 DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(09)17820-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
There is a long tradition that seeks to understand the impact of culture on the causes, form, treatment, and outcome of psychiatric disorders. An early, colonialist literature attributed cultural characteristics and variations in psychopathology and behavior to deficiencies in the brains of colonized peoples. Contemporary research in social and cultural neuroscience holds the promise of moving beyond these invidious comparisons to a more sophisticated understanding of cultural variations in brain function relevant to psychiatry. To achieve this, however, we need better models of the nature of psychopathology and of culture itself. Culture is not simply a set of traits or characteristics shared by people with a common geographic, historical, or ethnic background. Current anthropology understands culture as fluid, flexible systems of discourse, institutions, and practices, which individuals actively use for self-fashioning and social positioning. Globalization introduces new cultural dynamics and demands that we rethink culture in relation to a wider domain of evolving identities, knowledge, and practice. Psychopathology is not reducible to brain dysfunction in either its causes, mechanisms, or expression. In addition to neuropsychiatric disorders, the problems that people bring to psychiatrists may result from disorders in cognition, the personal and social meanings of experience, and the dynamics of interpersonal interactions or social systems and institutions. The shifting meanings of culture and psychopathology have implications for efforts to apply cultural neuroscience to psychiatry. We consider how cultural neuroscience can refine use of culture and its role in psychopathology using the example of adolescent aggression as a symptom of conduct disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Laurence J. Kirmayer
- Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Culture and Mental Health Research Unit, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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239
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The cultural neuroscience of person perception. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2009; 178:191-201. [DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(09)17813-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/22/2023]
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240
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Sherman DK, Kim HS, Taylor SE. Culture and social support: neural bases and biological impact. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2009; 178:227-37. [PMID: 19874973 DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(09)17816-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Social support is an effective means by which people cope with stressful events, and consequently, it beneficially affects health and well-being. Yet there are profound cultural differences in the effectiveness of different types of support and how people use their support networks. In this paper, we examine research on the impact of culture on social support, the neural underpinnings of social support, and how cultural differences in social support seeking are manifested biologically. We focus on cultural factors that may affect individuals' decisions to seek or not to seek social support and how culture moderates the impact of support seeking on biological and psychological health outcomes. We also examine recent research on the interaction between genes and culture in social support use. Discussion centers on the importance of developing an overarching framework of social support that integrates health psychology, cultural psychology, social neuroscience, and genetics.
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Affiliation(s)
- David K Sherman
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
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241
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Chiao JY. Cultural neuroscience: a once and future discipline. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2009; 178:287-304. [PMID: 19874977 DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(09)17821-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 119] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The study of culture and biology has long stood stratified within the social and natural sciences, a gap that physicist C.P. Snow (1959) famously called "the two cultures." Cultural neuroscience is an emerging, interdisciplinary field that examines the bidirectional influence of culture and genes to brain and behavior across multiple timescales. Integrating theory and methods from cultural psychology, brain sciences, and population genetics, cultural neuroscience is the study of how cultural values, practices and beliefs shape brain function and how the human brain gives rise to cultural capacities and their transmission across macro- (e.g., phylogeny, lifespan) and micro timescales (e.g., situation). The current article presents the aims and methods of cultural neuroscience, highlights recent empirical findings in the field, and discusses the potential implications of this field for bridging the social and natural sciences as well as informing interethnic ideology and population health concerns, more broadly construed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joan Y Chiao
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
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"Neuroarchaeology": exploring the links between neural and cultural plasticity. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2009; 178:253-61. [PMID: 19874975 DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(09)17818-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
This paper aims primarily at two things: The first is to present an overview of the newly developed field of "neuroarchaeology" and discuss its theoretical grounding in Material Engagement Theory (MET) and the extended mind hypothesis. The second is to use the above overview as a basis for advancing some tentative proposals about the role that neuroarchaeology, by placing the mutual constitution of brain, mind, and culture in evolutionary perspective, can play within the field of cultural neuroscience and about the common benefits that can arise out of such a cross-disciplinary coalition.
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244
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Chen C, Xue G, Mei L, Chen C, Dong Q. Cultural neurolinguistics. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2009; 178:159-71. [PMID: 19874968 DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(09)17811-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
As the only species that evolved to possess a language faculty, humans have been surprisingly generative in creating a diverse array of language systems. These systems vary in phonology, morphology, syntax, and written forms. Before the advent of modern brain-imaging techniques, little was known about how differences across languages are reflected in the brain. This chapter aims to provide an overview of an emerging area of research - cultural neurolinguistics - that examines systematic cross-cultural/crosslinguistic variations in the neural networks of languages. We first briefly describe general brain networks for written and spoken languages. We then discuss language-specific brain regions by highlighting differences in neural bases of different scripts (logographic vs. alphabetic scripts), orthographies (transparent vs. nontransparent orthographies), and tonality (tonal vs. atonal languages). We also discuss neural basis of second language and the role of native language experience in second-language acquisition. In the last section, we outline a general model that integrates culture and neural bases of language and discuss future directions of research in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuansheng Chen
- Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
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245
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Abstract
Research reveals dramatic differences in the ways that people from different cultures perceive the world around them. Individuals from Western cultures tend to focus on that which is object-based, categorically related, or self-relevant whereas people from Eastern cultures tend to focus more on contextual details, similarities, and group-relevant information. These different ways of perceiving the world suggest that culture operates as a lens that directs attention and filters the processing of the environment into memory. The present review describes the behavioral and neural studies exploring the contribution of culture to long-term memory and related processes. By reviewing the extant data on the role of various neural regions in memory and considering unifying frameworks such as a memory specificity approach, we identify some promising directions for future research.
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246
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The brain in culture and culture in the brain: a review of core issues in neuroanthropology. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2009; 178:43-64. [DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(09)17804-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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247
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Ketay S, Aron A, Hedden T. Culture and attention: evidence from brain and behavior. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2009; 178:79-92. [DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(09)17806-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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248
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Understanding the self: a cultural neuroscience approach. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2009; 178:203-12. [DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(09)17814-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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Kazandjian S, Dupierrix E, Gaash E, Love IY, Zivotofsky AZ, De Agostini M, Chokron S. Egocentric reference in bidirectional readers as measured by the straight-ahead pointing task. Brain Res 2008; 1247:133-41. [PMID: 18973747 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.09.098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2008] [Revised: 09/25/2008] [Accepted: 09/26/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The present study aimed to show that bidirectional reading and language exposure influence the position of egocentric reference (ER), the perceived direction of the body's sagittal axis proposed to act as an anchor for movements in extracorporeal space. Directional factors (e.g., visual scanning bias and reading habits) have been proposed to influence visuospatial performance, such as in line bisection and figure drawing. In past studies, bidirectional readers have been less consistent in demonstrating a bias compared to unidirectional readers. Using a straight-ahead pointing task to assess egocentric reference, we compared 14 unidirectional left-to-right readers (Uni-LR) to three bidirectional reading groups that differed in the reading direction of their native language and/or the level of their second language literacy: 16 low-English literate, native right-to-left, bidirectional readers (Lo-Bi-RL), 13 high-English literate, native right-to-left, bidirectional readers (Hi-Bi-RL), and 15 native left-to-right, bidirectional readers (Bi-LR). Participants were asked to point straight-ahead while blindfolded using either a left-to-right or a right-to-left scanning direction to approach the subjective sagittal midline. Uni-LRs showed left-side spatial bias when scanning left-to-right and right-side bias during right-to-left scanning, Bi-LRs and Lo-Bi-RLs (i.e., intermediate level or less in their second language) demonstrated the opposite pattern, and Hi-Bi-RLs showed left-side spatial bias regardless of scanning direction. Results are discussed in terms of accuracy and spatial bias regarding the interaction between reading direction and spatial cognition based on the level of bidirectional literacy and language exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seta Kazandjian
- ERT TREAT Vision, Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, UMR 5105 CNRS-Université Pierre Mendès France, 1251, avenue Centrale, 38040 Grenoble, France.
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