Cultural differences in neurocognitive mechanisms underlying believing

NeuroImage

Shihui Han¹  Tianyu Gao²  Xiaochun Han²  Dan Bang³ 

[1] Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom;Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, 52 Haidian Road, Beijing 100080, China;Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, United Kingdom;

关键词: Anterior insula;    Believe;    Culture;    Functional MRI;    Self;    Think;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Believing as a fundamental mental process influences other cognitive/affective processes and behavior. However, it is unclear whether believing engages distinct neurocognitive mechanisms in people with different cultural experiences. We addressed this issue by scanning Chinese and Danish adults using functional MRI during believing judgments on personality traits of oneself and a celebrity. Drift diffusion model analyses of behavioral performances revealed that speed/quality of information acquisition varied between believing judgments on positive and negative personality traits in Chinese but not in Danes. Chinese adopted a more conservative strategy of decision-making during celebrity- than self-believing judgments whereas an opposite pattern was observed in Danes. Non-decisional processes were longer for celebrity- than for self-believing in Danes but not in Chinese. Believing judgments activated the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in both cultural groups but elicited stronger left anterior insular and ventral frontal activations in Chinese. Greater mPFC activity in Chinese was associated with longer duration of non-decision processes during believing-judgments, which predicted slower retrieval of self-related information in a memory test. Greater mPFC activity in Danes, however, was associated with a less degree of adopting a conservative strategy during believing judgments, which predicted faster retrieval of self-related information. Our findings highlight different neurocognitive processes engaged in believing between individuals from East Asian and Western cultures.

【 授权许可】

Unknown