title: Cultural influences on memory.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA. gutchess@brandeis.edu
authors.forename: Angela H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Gutchess
authors.forename: Allie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Indeck
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural / Q000379:methods*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009484:Neuropsychology / Q000379:methods*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology; D011603:Psychophysiology