title: Cultural shaping of neural responses: Feedback-related potentials vary with self-construal and face priming.
abstract: Previous work shows that when an image of a face is presented immediately prior to each trial of a speeded cognitive task (face-priming), the error-related negativity (ERN) is upregulated for Asians, but it is downregulated for Caucasians. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that images of "generalized other" vary cross-culturally such that they evoke anxiety for Asians, whereas they serve as safety cues for Caucasians. Here, we tested whether the cross-cultural variation in the face-priming effect would be observed in a gambling paradigm. Caucasian Americans, Asian Americans, and Asian sojourners were exposed to a brief flash of a schematic face during a gamble. For Asian Americans, face-priming resulted in significant increases of both negative-going deflection of ERP upon negative feedback (feedback-related negativity [FRN]) and positive-going deflection of ERP upon positive feedback (feedback-related positivity [FRP]). For Caucasian Americans, face-priming showed a significant reversal, decreasing both FRN and FRP. The cultural difference in the face-priming effect in FRN and FRP was partially mediated by interdependent self-construal. Curiously, Asian sojourners showed a pattern similar to the one for Caucasian Americans. Our findings suggest that culture shapes neural pathways in both systematic and highly dynamic fashion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Hidefumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hitokoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Glazer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Shinobu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitayama
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001213:Asian; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D030141:Feedback, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D060865:Repetition Priming / Q000502:physiology*; D012938:Social Perception; D044465:White People / Q000208:ethnology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: EEG; Emotion; Individual differences