How Culture Wires Our Brains
Introduction
- Culture comprises values, meanings, conventions, and artifacts that shape daily social realities.
- It provides a framework for behavioral and affective norms.
- Cultural psychology explores effects on behavior, cognition, and emotion.
- Cultural neuroscience examines how culture influences brain structure and function.
Cultural Neuroscience
- Definition: Interdisciplinary field studying the relationship between culture and brain.
- Focuses on how culture constructs and is constructed by brain pathways.
Brain Plasticity
- Culture influences brain's plasticity, leading to structural changes from habitual engagement in cultural tasks.
- Examples include changes in hippocampi of London taxi drivers and motor cortex of jugglers.
Cultural Embodiment
- Culture becomes "embrained" through accumulated experiences.
- fMRI studies show cultural backgrounds affect neural activity during cognitive tasks.
Cross-Cultural Differences
- Western vs East Asian participants show different brain activity in tasks involving visual perception, attention, and self-reflection.
Self-Construal
- Definition: How individuals perceive and understand themselves.
- Western cultures: Independent self-construal (autonomous, unique self).
- East Asian cultures: Interdependent self-construal (relational, harmonious self).
Impacts on Brain Activity
- Self-construal mediates neural activity differences across cultures.
- Continuous engagement in cultural tasks reflects self-construals, shaping brain connections.
Priming Studies
- Priming participants towards independent/interdependent self-construals alters neural responses.
- Example: Different neural activations in gambling tasks when primed for independent vs interdependent construals.
Neural Representation of Self
- Culture influences brain's representation of self.
- Example: Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC) activation in self-related tasks differs between Western and Chinese participants.
Conclusion
- Cultural practices and values significantly shape neural structures and pathways.
- Repeated cultural engagement strengthens specific brain pathways, facilitating cultural and biological adaptation.
Key References
- Kitayama & Park (2010)
- Ames & Fiske (2010)
- Gutchess et al. (2006)
- Han & Northoff (2008)
- Zhu et al. (2007)
Further Reading
- Explore more on cultural neuroscience and its impact on cognition and emotion.
- Consider how ongoing cultural engagement continues to wire our brains.
These notes cover the key points discussed in the article "How Culture Wires Our Brains", highlighting the impact of culture on brain structure and function, emphasizing the interdisciplinary findings in cultural neuroscience.