Cultural and Brain Function

MIT Researchers Hedden and Gabrieli used fMRI to study the brains of Americans and East Asians while they were asked to make fast, perceptual judgments. For example, participants were shown a series of differently sized squares, each of which had a single line drawn inside of it, and were asked to judge whether the line-to-square proportion was the same or different from one square to the next (e.g., a relative judgment). Then they were asked to judge whether the lines were the same length regardless of the squares surrounding them (e.g., an absolute judgment of individual objects). Although all types of brains used the same neural systems, they differed in the amount of energy expended. American brains used more energy when making relative judgments and less energy when making absolute judgments. The brains of East Asians showed the exact opposite. Their brains used more energy when making absolute judgments about individual objects and less energy when making relative judgments about relationships.