Perception studies and cognitive style.

In experimental studies when an object is removed from its original context European subjects can readily identify the object as familiar whether the visual stimuli is presented isolated or with an entirely new background. On the other hand Asians pay more attention to the total context, and have more difficulty identifying the object when the background (context) is not familiar, and are better at identification when the object is presented in isolation (Ji, Peng, & Nisbett, 2000). Further, Nisbett, Peng, Choi, and Norenzayan (2001) found that it is difficult for European Americans to note changes in background stimuli suggesting they are less field dependent, whereas it is more difficult for Asians to note changes in objects placed in the foreground of a stimuli scene. Masuda and Nisbett (2001) noted that Asians focus more attention on interrelationships between objects and the associated contextual features consistent with interdependent Asian culture, whereas European American participants focus more attention on the important features of objects placed in the foreground. The interdependence of our neural processes and cognitive style is also manifested in the Masuda and Nisbett study where the researchers found that the eye movement of American participants focused more on objects in the foreground whereas Chinese respondents made more eye movements toward background stimuli.

Nisbett (2003) proposed that the differences in cognitive style between East Asian and Western students are rooted in the more holistic perceptual orientation of the former. East Asian participants in these investigations tended to display a holistic perceptual orientation where they perceive objects as interconnected. On the other hand Western participants paid more attention to details and the singularity of differentiated objects. In another study (Ji et al 2004) Chinese students perceived of objects in pictorial stimuli as being more relationally organized, whereas participants of European background employed categorization as boundaries for objects.

The validity of these findings is supported by studies using magnetic imaging of the brain comparing German and Chinese respondents (Nisbett, 2003). These cultural groups displayed consistent differences in areas of brain stimulation with the bilateral frontal lobes and parietal areas known as the dorsal stream being activated in initial learning by Chinese respondents. On the other hand European American respondents activated posterior ventral regions including the fusiform gyrus and hippocampal complex. Since these areas are associated with object identification they offer evidence that differences in culture and cognitive style affects the neurological attention style in perception. The validity of field dependence and independence cognitive styles find novel support in these studies that not link perceptual behavior to the underlying cerebral activity.

As we live during times of globalization it is encouraging to note that field independence is promoted by intercultural contacts. When cultural groups experience acculturation through contacts with other cultures the process promotes independent thinking and a perception of cultural behavior as dimensional and relative. Acculturation contacts support a field independent cognitive style with salient impact on a person’s cognitive style (Witkin & Berry, 1975). Such intercultural contact has accelerated in recent years in a globalized world economy. While contacts have diminished field dependence, there remains in the literature a strong interest in cognitive styles as defining an important difference between collectivistic and individualistic societies (Kitayama & Cohen, 2007). Socialization also affects cognitive style in the genders where some evidence has been found for more field dependence in females in authoritarian societies (Berry, 1966). However, the women’s movement is challenging authoritarian practices everywhere, and globalization will probably ensure that gender field dependent differences are only of historical interest.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 1150