Neuroscience
Hannah Faye Chua, Julie E. Boland, & Richard E. Nisbett. Cultural variation in eye movements during scene perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; 2005. ePub ahead of publication. 10.1073/pnas.0506162102
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1043
In the past decade, cultural differences in perceptual judgment and memory have been observed: Westerners attend more to focal objects, whereas East Asians attend more to contextual information. However, the underlying mechanisms for the apparent differences in cognitive processing styles have not been known. In the present study, we examined the possibility that the cultural differences arise from culturally different viewing patterns when confronted with a naturalistic scene. We measured the eye movements of American and Chinese participants while they viewed photographs with a focal object on a complex background. In fact, the Americans fixated more on focal objects than did the Chinese, and the Americans tended to look at the focal object more quickly. In addition, the Chinese made more saccades to the background than did the Americans. Thus, it appears that differences in judgment and memory may have their origins in differences in what is actually attended as people view a scene.
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Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain
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Neuroscience
Abstract of the Day: The Eye of the Beholder
Hannah Faye Chua, Julie E. Boland, & Richard E. Nisbett. Cultural variation in eye movements during scene perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; 2005. ePub ahead of publication. 10.1073/pnas.0506162102
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1043
In the past decade, cultural differences in perceptual judgment and memory have been observed: Westerners attend more to focal objects, whereas East Asians attend more to contextual information. However, the underlying mechanisms for the apparent differences in cognitive processing styles have not been known. In the present study, we examined the possibility that the cultural differences arise from culturally different viewing patterns when confronted with a naturalistic scene. We measured the eye movements of American and Chinese participants while they viewed photographs with a focal object on a complex background. In fact, the Americans fixated more on focal objects than did the Chinese, and the Americans tended to look at the focal object more quickly. In addition, the Chinese made more saccades to the background than did the Americans. Thus, it appears that differences in judgment and memory may have their origins in differences in what is actually attended as people view a scene.
-
Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain
- Looking At Their Own Face Tunes Westerners To Their Heartbeat; Not So For East Asians
In this study of cross-cultural differences in body representation participants were challenged to keep count of their own heartbeat simply by listening to their body - a measure of what's known as interoceptive awareness (IA). A cue signalled when...
- Extras
Eye-catching studies that didn't make the final cut: '...background music disturbs the reading process, has some small detrimental effects on memory, but has a positive impact on emotional reactions and improves achievements in sports.' A...
- Facial Emotional Expressions Are Not Universal
From the Bushmen of the Kalahari to the Kalaallit of Greenland, you'll find that people everywhere frown in frustration and smile in delight. Or will you? The universality of human emotions and their expression in the face has become widely accepted...
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