Cultural Differences in Memory for Objects and Backgrounds in Pictures

• Published in: Journal of cross-cultural psychology 2018-04, Vol.49 (3), p.404-417
• Main Authors: Wong, Brenda Iok, Yin, Shufei, Yang, Lixia, Li, Juan, Spaniol, Julia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attention; Background; Cultural differences; Encoding; Memory; Studies
• ISSN: 0022-0221; 1552-5422
• DOI: 10.1177/0022022117748763

The purpose of this study is to investigate cultural differences in memory for individual objects and backgrounds that have been studied together in one picture. Thirty-six Caucasian Canadians in Toronto and 36 Han Chinese in Beijing were tested with a picture recognition paradigm. At encoding, participants viewed 60 line drawing pictures, each containing an object and a background scene. Participants then recognized these objects and backgrounds in isolation, and were asked to report subjectively whether they allocated their attention toward the objects, backgrounds, or both during encoding. In general, we did not find any cultural difference in memory for the isolated objects. However, Canadian participants showed significantly better memory for backgrounds than Chinese participants. Our supplementary data suggested that this effect appeared primarily among participants who self-reported paying attention to both objects and backgrounds. We speculated that relative to Canadian participants, Chinese participants might be more likely to engage in a holistic processing style and thus spontaneously bind background scenes with their associated focal objects when viewing both elements in pictures, which made it more difficult for them to “unbind” the information and recognize backgrounds in isolation. The results of this study add new insights into cultural differences in memory for individual elements in pictures.