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Did you know that our brain function is entirely different when we think about our own honesty versus when we think about another’s honesty? That’s if the “we” is American. For Chinese people their brains look identical when considering either.
These sorts of studies fall into so-called cultural neuroscience: the study of how our environment shapes our brain function.
Following up on the cultural differences between Asians and Americans, one study published in Neuroimage found that when faced with the same image, people’s neural responses are totally different. Scientists found that when American subjects viewed a silhouette in a dominant posture (standing up, arms crossed) their brain’s reward circuitry sparked. Not so for Japanese subjects. For the Japanese, their reward circuitry fired when they saw a submissive silhouette (head down, arms at sides). This physiological response matches a well-known behavioral difference: Americans favor and encourage dominant behavior. Japanese culture reinforces submissive culture.
This study, and many others, is referenced in a recent article in the American Psychological Association’s Monitor.
One might think, well, these studies add nothing revolutionary and are simply revealing the wiring behind already well-known behavior. Then again isn’t it a good thing for science to understand the wiring behind a light bulb instead of just observing that it goes on when someone walks into a room?
—Christie Nicholson
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44 Comments
Add CommentThat last paragraph -- well said.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSurely these results vary with the individual, the history, the circumstances and a huge number of other variables.Very likely the study focused on many test subjects but it remains a statistical study and suffers all the consequences of such studies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis confirms what I have been thinking for a long time. I am a French Canadian living in the U.K. and on top of adapting to the general culture, I have also had to adapt to their unspoken rules. There is a definite built-in system of responses to different situations and after 8 years, I am still struggling to understand it all. For example, my Canadian self-deprecating sense of humour was initially met with pity, sympathy, distress. It still is today with people who do not really know me. The intent of my comments are constantly misunderstood but I have learnt to accept that it is because of their perceptions of what I have said and also, the way their brains have been wired culturally.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe way people have been taught to think determines their actions...now that's a new concept. Could this taught thinking explain why a huge continent like Africa, with an incredible amount of natural resources is still one of the poorest and most illiterate places on Earth?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes to an extent but this article addresses an issue that I think we all suspected, at least from the empirical evidence.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe article describes what many individuals have noticed when they travel. That is, socio-cultural norms are quite different amongst different nations. Also, it is my opinion, although it is quite controversial, that an individual's genetic makeup predisposes an individual to develop intellectually and socially and adapt to situations which his or hers ancestors successfully adapted to. Thus, events and circumstances TRIGGER intellectual, social,biological and even political developments in certain individuals. The euphemisms: "You were "born" a politician, a soldier, a doctor, a musician, a scientist." Thus indicate to me the same has some basis in fact.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn light of the original article, I know that foreign women like me much more than American women based upon their different socio-cultural-political norms as described in the article.
For myself I grew up in an environment of dominant silhouettes with their arms crossed, so when I came in contact with submissive and arms crossed it seemed so exotic and beautiful that I fell in love and married her. In my own opinion I feel like genetics and intelligence have a lot to do with it as well. I would be curious to know what percentage of people of a large study group deviate from the norm and the reward circuitry sparked when they are shown strange culture figures. Also when they say reward circruity are they meaning oxytocin? If so it could just be that we trust those familiar figures.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisedit: submissive and arms down
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAgreed, and I've run into the same "crossed cultural signals" myself. In fact, here in the States, I suspect that the so-called "blue state/red state" essentially cultural divide, could also probably be explained in neuroscientific and genetic terms. As one example, "red" states also generally have much higher rates of ADD/ADHD and addiction, both variously reflected in "reward patterns" in the Temporal Lobe, Limbic and the "Ring of Fire" areas of brain activity. And genetically, most of these populations also trace their roots thru Appalachia, the South and back to the Irish Ulster "Plantatations", having unique cultures with certain enduring "values"... including "drinking", "risk-taking" and "fighting" (aka "impulsiveness").
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe someday we'll understand why some people are so keen for killing everybody who thinks different then what they think. And maybe find some neurological drug who could change that.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAmong other things, the limbic system also sorts out fear and aggression, and when not working right (ADD, OCD, etc.), it doesn't cope well with unexpected "change" or "different" (i.e. "You ain't from around here...").
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMay it would help if you changed the way you express yourself instead of expecting the UK to adjust to you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt always helps to improve your self image with other people. It's not that hard to do.
All you have to do is listen to die-hard Republicans and Democrats to figure this out... ;-)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, I'm sure there's ample opportunity for funding of additional pointless fMRI based "cultural neuroscience" research: can you imagine how different the neural responses of Texans are to those of Californians?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat an opportunity for funding of additional research! Then there are the other U.S. states and territories, not to mention the cultural differences among the boroughs within New York City!
Babies brought up in China will speak a different language than those brought up in Japan -- perhaps this pre-wired patterning explains the reason.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBabies brought up in China will speak a different language than those brought up in Japan -- perhaps this pre-wired patterning explains the reason.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn a less humerous observation, this certainly portends less philosophical applications --
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBrainscans at the airport for security;
Brainscans in the courtroom for truth-testing;
Brainscans by the police for guilt or potential guilt;
etc...
It's not stated in the article, but I don't think that these culture related neuronal structural distinctions are 'pre-wired' but that they are induced by learning or training.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm obviously no neuroscientist, but I recall reading about some work done decades ago establishing that common neuronal circuits were eliminated in a 'trimming' process that occurs somewhere around 5 years of age: it turns out that babies are born with the ability to pronounce a variety of specific phonemes. If the languages(s) learned by the time this trimming process takes place do not include some of these inherent human phonemes their neuronal circuits are eliminated (or reallocated for other functions). This is the reason why Japanese-only speakers lose the ability to make the 'r' sound at a young age - it cannot be relearned.
I suggest that similar behavioral support circuitry, inherent in all children, is eliminated during this trimming process if not reinforced by social training.
By the way, I think that many of these learned social behavioral distinctions may be adopted to best fit with environmental conditions. In addition to aggressive postures described in the article, Japanese also tend to respond to aggressive hand gestures (often used during speech) with uneasiness. It seems that these behavioral distinctions are best adopted for people living in dense populations with little personal space. Aggressive behavior is most appropriate for loners who must often required to be self-reliant, out on the high plains, for example. Of course, since we Americans are now also highly urbanized in increasingly dense populations, perhaps we must adapt to improve our chances of survival. This is just my opinion...
This is basically another version of the old "nature vs nurture" debate, and funny how the very idea that we may be "hardwired" for certain personality traits & values (aka "culture"), still seems to be such a hot button issue for some folks (despite the fact that we obviously come equipped with such "factory-installed" differences, right between our legs)!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisExcellent point - that had escaped me, thanks! The title certainly implies that the fMRI researchers anyway presume that these distinctions must be preconfigured 'hardware', as does the closing statement:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"One might think, well, these studies add nothing revolutionary and are simply revealing the wiring behind already well-known behavior. Then again isn’t it a good thing for science to understand the wiring behind a light bulb instead of just observing that it goes on when someone walks into a room?"
The potential explanation I describe previously, drawn from a documented process, illustrates how a learned 'software' process can reconfigure 'hardware'.
I strongly suggest that these neuronal structural differences between cultures are the product of selective childhood use and development of neuronal structures and a selective neuronal structure 'trimming' process of brain development.
These observations do not prove the existence of 'prewired hardware' to account for cultural behavioral distinctions.
Not surprising. Take into account the fact that there is genetic propensity and neural plasticity, cultures form as societies organize themselves under dominant stimuli.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWould a American child brought up by Japanese Parents in Japan react like a Japanese child. I would think so.
We see this with any individual immigrant as he adjusts in a new environment, though when the they form a social group they try to retain their old world culture.
Actually, the author of this article simply mis-understands the implications of these findings. fMRI is a "functional" measurement corresponding to differences in blood oxygenation (BOLD for short), which is used as an analog for neural activation. What this experiment is actually measuring is differences in the level of brain activation in response to specific stimuli. In this particular case, such differences are not necessarily due to any permanent differences in brain structure, as the author of this article suggests. Analogously, researchers would likely be able demonstrate differences in amygdaloid activity across Japanese and American children if they were exposed to cut out images of Godzilla. For the former, this creature is much more likely to inspire fear than for the latter, primarily due to differences in prior exposure to this character. However, we would not say that such differences correspond to differences in brain structure, or even that these children have "different brains". Indeed, in this sense, we all have "different brains", as we all have specific memories and experiences which are uniquely our own and to which we respond differently. As a result, it is incorrect to assume that the results of this study necessitate culturally defined differences in brain structure. That is not to say that cultural differences might not affect brain development--indeed, countless experiences throughout our lives affect our development. But it is to say that such general claims as "individuals from different cultures have different brains" are both inaccurate and misleading.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wouldn't worry about any near-future brain scans being used in these areas. We currently have no technology that is anywhere close to being able to determine whether an individual is lying. In fact, the few researchers who have attempted to utilize fMRI for this purpose have shown that it is little better than a polygraph test (which, owing to its high false-positive rate and relatively low hit rate is quite useless). Quite honestly, you would be surprised at how little we have advanced in our ability to "scan" brains over the past 40 years.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell put, thanks.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBy the way, if I recall correctly, Japanese children who learn to speak English early in life have no trouble pronouncing the 'r' sound as adults. This indicates that the functional commitment of neuronal structures occurs not at birth as a product of genetic differences but later in life in conjunction with learned behavior.
You are incorrect as to the trouble with letters that the Japanese have. They have one sound where English has two sounds. We split the R and L sounds but the Japanese hear them both the same. If I'm not mistaken the Spanish language adds in another R sound that English peakers can't hear. The sounds hit the ear the same for everyone but the brain doesn't process the different sounds for those that didn't experience them early enough.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is quite a list of sounds that American English speakers can't process correctly. I tried to find any kind of a phoneme list that I could link to but never found more than one or two on a given site. I would think that with a global economy this would be indespensable but I guess not.
@zstansfi & @jtdwyer -
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou have identified the key element which was mis-presented in this 60-second blip: The behavior used as indicative of functional topology is likely a result of cultural adaptation/training.
@zstansfi -
I'm not worried short-term (ie, this year) but I would not turn my back on the extreme likelihood of adaptation of this technology for more subtle analyses of human behavior. This is not like inventing a large caliber canon shell to travel to the moon -- think of subtle magnetic eddies which become documented images in MRI, or separating cell components by variable laser reflectometry. (or even back-scatter xray to peer under clothing...)
It will happen.
BTW, navigation, sorting and notification on this site are in serious need of re-engineering: they don't work!
Thanks for the correction and additional info.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think my (clarified) explanation still stands - that, for example, Japanese only speakers lose the ability to process an inherent unused 'r'|'l' phoneme at about age 5 or so, whereas Japanese who learn English before that age have no difficulty processing both phonemes. Language neural network configurations are determined by learning and brain physiological ('trimming') processes.
Further proof that who we are is literaly determined by the physical arrangement and structure of our brains and neural networks, and that those physical things are shaped, carved, erroded and molded by interaction with our environment. Our genetics determine the physical properties of the block of stone, but interaction with the environment carves out the sculpture that is "us".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo it could not at all. The fact that international Banking families and royalties have made public statements where they know Africa can be self sustainable but that would mean competition with them and not subjugation of them.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou are trying to say that Africans are wired in a way that makes them inferior, but that is a radical opinion whereas my conclusion has been pointed to and proven through the Elite's own memoirs and published white papers...
Neurological drug that changes the drive to fight and defend one's property? You are insane, a complete lunatic. Next you will promote neurological vaccines that encourage enzymes and bacteria that once injected actually eat parts of your neuro-receptors in order to modify behaviorm, by preventing uptakes of neuro-transmitters. How would you get someone to voluntarily take that?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan you say Free will anyone? Because you wont after these crazy drugs you speak of.
The science of Epi-genetic helps support your claim bro. It also disproves the idea that we are nothing more then preset biological mechina that is completely subjected to our genetic predisposition when its our environment and our emotional states that affect our genetics continually and can turn off/on mini factors, in real time, within our genetic code.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn my opinion, the process at work here is a brain specific macroprocess that occurs at a particular stage of development to trim unused neural networks originally established by genetic cellular development. The neural structures provided by initial gene expression directing brain development are actually present until this trimming or reallocation process occurs around five years of age.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt appears to me that Epigenetics is the study of cellular development that occurs independent of specific genetic instructions. I don't think any cellular differences in neurons have been identified for individuals of different cultures.
As I think more about it, the trimming process is not likely some time scheduled event that starts on an individual's fifth birthday, for example, eliminating all underutilized neural networks.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInstead, there could be some slow withering of unused neurons that do not receive sufficient supply of oxygen and nutrients from blood flow stimulated by use. By the time a child is around five years old, the process of neuron atrophy may be effectively complete, with permanent arterial flow established for remaining structures.
This would be a process similar to muscular atrophy following nerve injury: the muscles no longer receive the necessary flow of blood to prevent morbidity.
While interesting, there is a danger in applying a physical analogy to the "mechanisms" of behavior - Atrophy of a muscle system can be demonstrated. The mechanism of "forgetting" or "unlearning", not so much. Psychologists/Physiologists are not in agreement on the process of extinction, UNlearning, or whatever it is that may constitute "forgetting", but it is not likely to be "withering of unused neurons". During a brain operation, a portion of the brain can be stimulating causing the conscious patient to remember events, with clarity, which had happened 10's of years prior, and NOT previously remembered.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan you think of an experiment which would distinguish the process of functional change (physical/hereditary) from operational change (learning/chemical)?
Does the "ground-up Planarian RNA" validate a purely chemical mechanism?
not a withering of neurons or arterial supply, but a culling, or withering of unused neural connections and networks, with 'unused' neurons in old and withered networks reassigned to become members of the neural networks of their nearest neighbors.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe are always subject to our genetic predispositions. But those are not deterministic, in spite of the vehemence which determinists display in arguing that point.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOur genetic 'predispositions' can result in myriad forms of genetic expression; the specific expression that is 'us' depending solely on the history of our interactions with the environment.
"Free will"? a bad idea, resting on unfounded assumptions as to what the words 'free' and 'will' mean. And on a bone deep misaprehension on what constitutes "I", "consciousness" or "mind".
"Will" can never be free of its container, its environment or the laws that govern interactions.
atrophy or culling of neural networks is just as real, material and physical a thing as muscular atrophy. And far more significant - rebuilding neural nets is possible, but far more difficult than rebuilding atrophied bone or muscle.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thissubliminal memories during surgery? You can see the same thing at any good 'magic' show, or in any hypnotists office. With exactly the same probability that the 'memory' is an actual memory and not a confabulation.
can you describe how 'functional change' is in any way different than 'operational change'?
The inherent ability of people to distinguish the 'r' and 'l' phonemes when interpreting language or producing speech is a more fundamental example of the 'cultural' distinctions in stimuli response discussed here. That the ability to distinguish 'r' from 'l' can be directly associated with language learning early in life indicates that their distinction is not in itself an inherent ability. That it cannot be relearned later in life indicates that the ability early in life is associated with some inherent capability. Just as general speech and language processing can be associated with some specific local brain structures, it seems likely that there is some inherent specific neural structure specifically supporting the processing of each phoneme. In that case, some affect of learning most likely disables the ability to access some specific neural structure, instead substituting one of the 'r or 'l' phoneme processing structures for the now unavailable component. It would seem that either those neurons either become inaccessible, they have been functionally reallocated or they no longer exist.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLike muscle and other tissue, neuron cells require nutrients delivered by the circulatory system. Likewise, the circulatory system delivers blood to tissue that requires nutrients. I don't know precisely how this is accomplished, but it would seem that areas of the brain that often require additional nutrients to support activity would develop circulatory support for its increased delivery, and vice versa. This is highly analogous to the effect resulting in the atrophy of muscle tissue: I suspect that this same effect is fundamental in physical brain development.
Unlike the association of specific brain regions (neurons) to support specific processing functions, such as sight, hearing, etc., I suspect that general memory processing is more generally supported (perhaps by the white cells).
This suggested process is intended to explain the apparent implementation of varying cultural responses to stimuli implemented in neuronal circuits of developed brains without requiring that those neuronal differences exist at birth. This suggested process combines the nature vs. nurture explanations – that early life environmental conditions shape the final development of brain structures and capabilities.
Sorry I can't seem to directly respond to your questions – I'm more engrossed in developing my own thoughts than convincing others... (continued)
My comments have been focused primarily on the ability to process specific phonemes, depending on which language(s) are learned as a child. Once the ability to process a phoneme has been lost, it cannot be regained. I think this condition strongly implies that there are specific physical neural structures that essentially all people are born with and that a specific structure is required to process each phoneme. An experiment indicating this could be the fMRI examination of Japanese processing 'r' and 'l' phonemes, one group who learned English as a young child and one group who did not. If blood flow to two specific areas could be identified for the English speakers but only one for the non-English speakers a physical distinction would be identified indicating either that the second neural group no longer exists in the non-English speakers or those neurons are no longer accessible for processing that phoneme.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMore specifically, this experiment could be applied to groups of young Japanese children learning either Japanese only or Japanese and English or English only, then reapplied later in life. However, I wouldn't volunteer my great grandchildren for such a procedure - MRIs are no fun...
@james davies; not so long ago india was definitely considered part of the "third world" (however you define that, i wouldn't like to attempt to) now it appears uncontroversial to predict that within decades it will be the second largest economy in the world. is that due to changes in neural architecture, or policies such as the green revolution? does africa suffer from it's neural architecture, or u.s. subsidies to it's cotton farmers distorting the market and destroying the livelihoods of african producers? making the link between imaging and culture is interesting, but between imaging and international economics is probably too far a stretch, at least on current evidence.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Third world" means not alligned with the Communist eastern political bloc or the Capitalist western political bloc. The term is a relic of the cold war. India is becoming an economic world power because of demographics and economics, not psiology (neural architecture). No one 'suffers' from their neural architecture, their neural architecture is shaped by their environment, which is made up largely of their social culture. For the record, Africa suffers - economicaly - from its relationships and ties to Europe far more than to those with the US.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@ rwstutler thanks for clarifying my position, only with less irony. cotton was only one commodity i could have picked, but for balance and to avoid being seen as anti-american, another reason for india's resurgence could be a rebound effect having lost the yolk of massive taxation of their textile industry in order to prop up british colonialist's own textile industry. developing/developed might have been an easier distinction than third world/first world. interestingly, although most commentators used to apply the term "third world" to india, india was non-aligned, which is one reason i find the term harder to define than you do. i'm extremely sorry if reading my original post led you to believe that my own actual view is that any cultural group actually "suffers" from their neural architecture, it was not my intention. "suffers" was intended to recap james davies' post and then be contrasted with the economic argument. and before anybody starts, i certainly will not allow myself to be drawn into a debate on irony, culture and neural architecture.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@rwstutler to clarify, your definition of "third world" looks accurate to me, although many dictionary definitions conflate the term with developing world.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this