Does cultural background predict the spatial distribution of attention?
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Lawrence, Rebecca; Edwards, Mark; Chan, Gordon W.C.; Cox, Jolene; Goodhew, Stephanie Catherine
Description
The current study aimed to explore cultural differences in the covert spatial distribution of attention. In particular, we tested whether those born in an East Asian country adopted a different distribution of attention compared to individuals born in a Western country. Previous work suggests that Western individuals tend to distribute attention narrowly and that East Asian individuals distribute attention broadly. However, these studies have used indirect methods to infer spatial attention...[Show more]
dc.contributor.author | Lawrence, Rebecca | |
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dc.contributor.author | Edwards, Mark | |
dc.contributor.author | Chan, Gordon W.C. | |
dc.contributor.author | Cox, Jolene | |
dc.contributor.author | Goodhew, Stephanie Catherine | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2020-01-08T02:04:25Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 2193-8652 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1885/196592 | |
dc.description.abstract | The current study aimed to explore cultural differences in the covert spatial distribution of attention. In particular, we tested whether those born in an East Asian country adopted a different distribution of attention compared to individuals born in a Western country. Previous work suggests that Western individuals tend to distribute attention narrowly and that East Asian individuals distribute attention broadly. However, these studies have used indirect methods to infer spatial attention scale. In particular, they have not measured changes in attention across space, nor have they controlled for differences eye movements patterns, which can differ across cultures. To address this, in the current study, we used an inhibition of return (IOR) paradigm which directly measured changes in attention across space, while controlling for eye movements. The use of the IOR task was a significant advancement, as it allowed for a highly sensitive measure of attention distribution compared to past research. Critically, using this new measure, we failed to observe a cultural difference in the distribution of covert spatial attention. Instead, individuals from East Asian countries and Western countries adopted a similar attention spread. However, we did observe a cultural difference in response speed, whereby Western participants were relatively faster to detect targets in the IOR task. This relationship persisted, even after controlling for individual variation in attention slope, indicating that factors other than attention distribution might account for cultural differences in response speed. Therefore, this study provides robust, converging evidence that group differences in covert spatial attentional distribution do not necessarily drive cultural variation in response speed. | |
dc.description.sponsorship | This research is supported by Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarships awarded to R.K.L. and J.A.C This research was supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship (FT170100021) awarded to S.C.G, and an ARC Discovery Project (DP190103103) awarded to M.E. | |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.language.iso | en_AU | |
dc.publisher | Springer Verlag | |
dc.rights | © 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Part of Springer Nature | |
dc.source | Culture and Brain | |
dc.subject | Cultural Background | |
dc.subject | Cognitive Psychology | |
dc.title | Does cultural background predict the spatial distribution of attention? | |
dc.type | Journal article | |
dc.date.issued | 2019-09-03 | |
local.identifier.ariespublication | u5270653xPUB289 | |
local.publisher.url | https://link.springer.com | |
local.type.status | Accepted Version | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Lawrence, R., University of Toronto; Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Edwards, M., Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Chan, Gordon W. C., Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Cox, J., Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Goodhew, S. C., Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University | |
dc.relation | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT170100021 | |
dc.relation | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP190103103 | |
local.identifier.doi | 10.1007/s40167-019-00086-x | |
dcterms.accessRights | Open Access | |
dc.provenance | http://sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/2193-8652/..."Author's post-print on any open access repository after 12 months after publication" from Sherpa/Romeo site (as at 8 Jan 2020) | |
Collections | ANU Research Publications |
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