ERIC Number: EJ966792
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jul
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-0277
EISSN: N/A
Cross Cultural Differences in Unconscious Knowledge
Kiyokawa, Sachiko; Dienes, Zoltan; Tanaka, Daisuke; Yamada, Ayumi; Crowe, Louise
Cognition, v124 n1 p16-24 Jul 2012
Previous studies have indicated cross cultural differences in conscious processes, such that Asians have a global preference and Westerners a more analytical one. We investigated whether these biases also apply to unconscious knowledge. In Experiment 1, Japanese and UK participants memorized strings of large (global) letters made out of small (local) letters. The strings constituted one sequence of letters at a global level and a different sequence at a local level. Implicit learning occurred at the global and not the local level for the Japanese but equally at both levels for the English. In Experiment 2, the Japanese preference for global over local processing persisted even when structure existed only at the local but not global level. In Experiment 3, Japanese and UK participants were asked to attend to just one of the levels, global or local. Now the cultural groups performed similarly, indicating that the bias largely reflects preference rather than ability (although the data left room for residual ability differences). In Experiment 4, the greater global advantage of Japanese rather English was confirmed for strings made of Japanese kana rather than Roman letters. That is, the cultural difference is not due to familiarity of the sequence elements. In sum, we show for the first time that cultural biases strongly affect the type of unconscious knowledge people acquire. (Contains 11 figures.)
Descriptors: Familiarity, Cultural Differences, Asians, Whites, Memory, Alphabets, Cognitive Processes, Prediction, Knowledge Level
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Japan; United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A