Memory Specificity Across Cultures

这个项目研究记忆的跨文化差异。在六个整合了行为和神经成像（fMRI）方法的实验中，这种方法分析了人们对视觉图像的记忆细节在不同文化中的差异。文化的透镜可以引导人们对环境的特定特征进行偏好的处理和/或注意，这将影响人们记住的内容。在东亚、土耳其和西方（即，布兰迪斯大学的安吉拉·古特切斯将研究人们记忆中的文化差异。由于美国人对特征的优先关注，他们被预测会记住更具体的细节。相比之下，这两个组在一般记忆方面会很好地匹配，这并不依赖于对特征的注意力。预测的记忆中的文化差异应该反映有意策略的使用，并将人们的注意力引导到具体的相关特征上，从而减少记忆中的跨文化差异。此外，老化，这减少了认知能力的可用性部署策略和过程中的细节外显记忆，应该减少记忆特异性的跨文化差异。相反，对于内隐记忆，将继续观察到特定细节记忆的文化差异，因为内隐记忆的发展被认为不依赖于认知能力。 功能性神经成像方法将为记忆特异性的文化差异提供汇聚证据，识别神经区域将有助于PI区分不同文化背景的人记忆事物的不同理论解释。 这个提议的智力价值包括考察外显记忆和内隐记忆的文化差异，这两种记忆被认为是可分离的记忆系统。到目前为止，大多数关于记忆的研究结果都是基于西方人群，这意味着记忆理论可能在很大程度上描述了西方人的特征，可能无法推广到其他人群。对文化差异的研究将导致心理学的一个更具包容性的领域，更好地理解哪些记忆原则是普遍的，哪些是文化依赖的。拟议的工作将在理解记忆特异性的跨文化差异的机制方面取得实质性进展，方法是采用多方法方法，使用敏感的记忆措施，包括神经影像学。通过研究多元文化世界中的记忆，拟议的研究可能有助于更好地跨文化理解以及更好的科学理解。几乎没有研究过东西方二分法之外的文化。如果记忆形成的性质在不同文化中有所不同，这可以帮助人们更好地理解为什么来自东方和西方文化的人经常以不同的方式看待世界，因为我们所记得的东西有力地塑造了我们的信仰。例如，在法律的环境中，与只关注（并且不成比例地记住）犯罪者行为的人相比，那些记得犯罪发生时更多细节的人可能会认为犯罪者的责任较轻。通过国际合作和非西方人参与拟议的研究，不同人群也将被纳入这项研究。 这将为国际各地的青年科学家提供一个培训基地，提高他们对文化对心理过程影响的认识。最后，这项工作将通过参加国际会议以及科学推广计划得到广泛传播。

This project investigates cross-cultural differences in memory. In six experiments that integrate behavioral and neuroimaging (fMRI) methods, this approach analyzes how the details people remember for visual images differ across cultures. The lens of culture can direct preferred modes of processing and/or attention to particular features of the environment, and this will affect what is remembered. In a comparison of East Asian, Turkish, and Western (i.e., American) cultures, Angela Gutchess of Brandeis University will examine cultural differences in exactly what people remember. Americans are predicted to remember more specific details due to their preferential attention to features. In contrast, the groups will be well-matched on general memory, which is not dependent upon attention to features. Predicted cultural differences in memory should reflect the use of intentional strategies, and directing people's attention to specific, relevant features should reduce cross-cultural differences in memory. Furthermore, aging, which reduces the availability of cognitive capacities to deploy strategies and process details in explicit memory, should reduce cross-cultural differences in memory specificity. In contrast, for implicit memory, cultural differences in memory for specific details will continue to be observed because the development of implicit memories is not thought to depend on cognitive capacity. Functional neuroimaging methods will provide converging evidence for cultural differences in memory specificity, and identifying neural regions will help the PI to distinguish between different theoretical accounts for why people from different cultures remember things differently. The intellectual merits of the proposal include examining cultural differences across both explicit and implicit memory, which are thought to be separable memory systems. To date, the majority of research findings on memory are based on Western populations, meaning that theories of memory may largely characterize Westerners and may not generalize to other populations. The study of cultural differences will lead to a more inclusive field of psychology, with a better understanding of which memory principles are universals vs. are culture-dependent. The proposed work will make substantial advances in understanding the mechanisms of cross-cultural differences in memory specificity by employing a multimethod approach using sensitive memory measures, including neuroimaging. By studying memory in a multicultural world, the proposed studies may contribute to better cross-cultural understanding as well as better scientific understanding. Little work has investigated cultures outside of the East/West dichotomy. If the nature of memory formation differs across cultures, this could help people better understand why people from Eastern and Western cultures often view the world differently because what we remember powerfully shapes what we believe. In legal settings, for example, people who remember more details of the situation in which a crime was committed may hold a perpetrator less responsible than people who focus solely on (and disproportionately remember) the perpetrator's actions. Diverse populations will also be included in this research through international collaboration and participation of non-Westerners in the proposed research. This will provide a training ground for young scientists across international sites and heightening their awareness of the impact of culture on psychological processes. Finally, the work will be broadly disseminated through participation in international conferences as well as science outreach programs.