title: Age and culture modulate object processing and object-scene binding in the ventral visual area.
abstract: Behavioral differences in the visual processing of objects and backgrounds as a function of cultural group are well documented. Recent neuroimaging evidence also points to cultural differences in neural activation patterns. Compared with East Asians, Westerners' visual processing is more object focused, and they activate neural structures that reflect this bias for objects. In a recent adaptation study, East Asian older adults showed an absence of an object-processing area but normal adaptation for background areas. In the present study, 75 young and old adults (half East Asian and half Western) were tested in an fMR-adaptation study to examine differences in object and background processing as well as object-background binding. We found equivalent background processing in the parahippocampal gyrus in all four groups, diminished binding processes in the hippocampus in elderly East Asians and Westerners, and diminished object processing in elderly versus young adults in the lateral occipital complex. Moreover, elderly East Asians showed significantly less adaptation response in the object areas than did elderly Westerners. These findings demonstrate the malleability of perceptual processes as a result of differences in cohort-specific experiences or in cultural exposure over time.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Goh
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Chee
authors.forename: Jiat Chow
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Vinod
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Venkatraman
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hebrank
authors.forename: Eric D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Leshikar
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: Bradley P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.forename: Angela H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Gutchess
authors.forename: Denise C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001290:Attitude / Q000208:ethnology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D005202:Asia, Eastern; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D020534:Parahippocampal Gyrus / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D014481:United States; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*