ISSN:
1552-5422
Content:
Interpretations of cross-cultural differences in performance on cognitive tasks tend to rely on broad concepts, such as general intelligence or cultural modes of thinking. In this study, the authors examine two proximate parameters, stimulus complexity and task exposure, using reaction time (RT) and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) recorded during various tasks. Five tasks differed in complexity but had similar stimulus content; one task had stimuli of different appearance. Test trials were administered across three days. Participants were trained on most tasks for two days. There were three samples, rural Venda youngsters in South Africa with little schooling, Venda university students, and Dutch university students. Cross-cultural differences in RT increased with task complexity and decreased with exposure. Substantial correspondence was found between patterns of RT and latency of the N2, an ERP component related to stimulus categorization. Our results fit an explanation in terms of task familiarity. Implications for culture-cognition relationships are discussed.
In:
Journal of cross-cultural psychology, Thousand Oaks, Calif. [u.a.] : Sage, 1970, 39(2008), 1, Seite 37-54, 1552-5422
In:
volume:39
In:
year:2008
In:
number:1
In:
pages:37-54
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1177/0022022107311844
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