Retrieval-induced forgetting of arithmetic facts across cultures

Retrieving a single-digit multiplication fact (3×4 =12) can slow response time (RT) for the corresponding addition fact (3+4=7). The present experiment investigated effects of problem type (i.e., tie addition problems such as 3+3 vs. non-ties such as 3+4) and cultural background on this retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) phenomenon in young adults. Canadians answering in English (n=36), Chinese adults answering in English (n=36), and Chinese answering in Chinese (n=36) received four blocks of multiplication practice and then two blocks of the addition counterparts and control additions. Tie addition problems presented a robust RIF effect that did not differ between groups, but only the Canadian group showed RIF for non-ties and only for small non-ties with sum≤10 (3+4). The Chinese groups' RIF effect for addition ties, but not small non-ties, converges with recent evidence that ties are solved by direct memory retrieval whereas small non-ties may be solved by highly efficient procedural processes in skilled performers.     

Cognitive arithmetic: comparison of operations

Adults' performance of simple arithmetic calculations (addition, multiplication, and numerical comparison) was examined to test predictions of digital (counting), analog, and network models. Although all of these models have been supported by studies of mental addition, each leads to a different prediction concerning relations between the times required for addition, multiplication, and numerical comparison. Pairs of single-digit integers were presented and reaction times (RTs) for adding, multiplying, and comparing the stimuli were collected. A high correlation between RT for addition and multiplication of the same digits was obtained. This result is consistent with a network model, but presents difficulties for both analog and counting models. A "ties" effect of no increase in RT with increases in problem size for doubles such as 2 + 2 has been found in previous studies of addition using verification procedures, but was not found with the production task employed in the present study. Instead, a different kind of ties effect was found. Reaction time for both addition and multiplication of ties increased more slowly with problem size than did RT for non-tie problems. This ties effect, and the finding that probability of making errors contributes independently of problem size to RT support a distinction between location and accessibility of information in a network.     

Cognitive arithmetic: a review of data and theory.

The area of cognitive arithmetic is concerned with the mental representation of number and arithmetic, and the processes and procedures that access and use this knowledge. In this article, I provide a tutorial review of the area, first discussing the four basic empirical effects that characterize the evidence on cognitive arithmetic: the effects of problem size or difficulty, errors, relatedness, and strategies of processing. I then review three current models of simple arithmetic processing and the empirical reports that support or challenge their explanations. The third section of the review discusses the relationship between basic fact retrieval and a rule-based component or system, and considers current evidence and proposals on the overall architecture of the cognitive arithmetic system. The review concludes with a final set of speculations about the all-pervasive problem difficulty effect, still a central puzzle in the field.     

Personality dimensions across cultures

In order to generalize the dimensional structure of personality-relatively independent groups of covarying traits-across languages and cultures, a large number of cultures must be studied. Until recently only a few worldwide personality datasets have been available. The first large-scale studies indicate that the pattern of covariation between personality traits is universal and is relatively easily generalizable across languages and cultures. In contrast to the structure of personality, the comparison of the mean trait scores across cultures is much more problematic because cross-cultural differences turned out to be very small in their magnitude, about one-third of the magnitude of individual differences within culture. More integral (e.g., the similarity between personality profiles) or subtle (e.g., the disparity between positively and negatively worded items) measures can reveal more systematic relationships with relevant socioeconomic and geographic variables than the mean scores themselves. Relatively modest sizes of cross-cultural differences in the mean values may imply that a reasonable scalar equivalence can be achieved, and all individuals, irrespective of their language and culture, can be represented in a common metric.     

Consistency-based compliance across cultures

A field study investigated cross-cultural differences in choice-congruent behavior and its impact on compliance. U.S. and Asian participants received a request to complete an online survey and a month later they were approached with a larger, related request. Compliance with the initial request had a stronger impact on subsequent compliance among the U.S. participants than among the Asian participants. Despite their lower rate of compliance with the initial request, the U.S. participants who chose to comply were more likely than their Asian counterparts to agree to the subsequent request. Further analyses revealed that this effect was driven by differences in the individualistic/collectivistic orientation of the participants from the two cultures. Within both cultures, the more individualistic participants showed stronger consistency with their earlier compliance than the more collectivistically oriented participants.     

Risk factors for adolescent marijuana use across cultures and across time.

An integrated analysis of the data from 3 different studies was conducted to examine the early psychosocial predictors of later marijuana use among adolescents. Longitudinal analysis of interview data was performed. The data used in the analysis were derived from (a) a sample of 739 predominantly White adolescents representative of the northeastern United States, (b) a sample of 1,190 minority adolescents from the East Harlem section of New York City, and (c) a sample of 1,374 Colombian adolescents from two cities in Colombia, South America. In 2 of the samples, participants were interviewed in their homes, and in the 3rd study, participants were assessed in school. The predictors included a number of variables from (a) the personality domain, reflecting the adolescents' conventionality and intrapsychic functioning; (b) the family domain, representing the parent-child mutual attachment relationship and parental substance use; (c) the peer domain, reflecting the peer group's delinquency and substance use; and (d) the adolescents' own use of legal drugs. The dependent variable was adolescent marijuana use. The results of the analysis demonstrated remarkable consistency in the risk and protective factors for later marijuana use across the 3 samples, attesting to the robust nature of these predictors and their generalizability across gender, time, location, and ethnic/cultural background. These findings have important implications for designing intervention programs. Programs aimed at preventing adolescent marijuana use can be designed to incorporate universal features and still incorporate specific components that address the unique needs of adolescents from different groups.     

Unique pathways to resilience across cultures

An international mixed methods study of resilience of 14 sites in eleven countries identified seven tensions that youth resolve in culturally specific ways. Resolution of these tensions is foundational to experiences of resilience. This paper reports on the qualitative findings from interviews with 89 youth. Results support a culturally embedded understanding of positive youth development that better accounts for young people's resilience in western and non-western countries. Specifically, the seven tensions identified include: access to material resources, relationships, identity, cohesion, power and control, social justice, and cultural adherence. Findings show that no one pattern in the resolution of these tensions predicts resilience better than another. A case study of a Palestinian boy demonstrates the intersection of the seven tensions and the uniqueness of their resolution. The implications of this work for interventions is discussed.     

Cognitive representations and processes in arithmetic: inferences from the performance of brain-damaged subjects.

In this article, we present data from two brain-damaged patients with calculation impairments in support of claims about the cognitive mechanisms underlying simple arithmetic performance. We first present a model of the functional architecture of the cognitive calculation system based on previous research. We then elaborate this architecture through detailed examination of the patterns of spared and impaired performance of the two patients. From the patients' performance we make the following theoretical claims: that some arithmetic facts are stored in the form of individual fact representations (e.g., 9 x 4 = 36), whereas other facts are stored in the form of a general rule (e.g., 0 x N = 0); that arithmetic fact retrieval is mediated by abstract internal representations that are independent of the form in which problems are presented or responses are given; that arithmetic facts and calculation procedures are functionally independent; and that calculation algorithms may include special-case procedures that function to increase the speed or efficiency of problem solving. We conclude with a discussion of several more general issues relevant to the reported research.     

Cross-situational consistency of affective experiences across cultures

This study examined cross-situational consistency of affective experiences using an experience-sampling method in Japan, India, and the United States. Participants recorded their moods and situations when signaled at random moments for 7 days. The authors examined relative (interindividual) consistency and absolute (within-person) consistency. They found stable interindividual differences of affective experiences across various situations (mean r =.52 for positive affect.51 for negative affect) and cultural invariance of the cross-situational consistency of affective experiences. Simultaneously, the authors found a considerable degree of within-person cross-situational variation in affective experiences, and cultural differences in within-person cross-situational consistency. Thus, global affective traits exist among non-Western samples, but the degree to which situations exert an influence on the absolute level of affective experience varies across cultures.     

Structural priming across cognitive domains: from simple arithmetic to relative-clause attachment

In the two experiments reported here, we uncovered evidence for shared structural representations between arithmetic and language. Specifically, we primed subjects using mathematical equations either with or without parenthetical groupings, such as 80 - (9 + 1) × 5 or 80 - 9 + 1 × 5, and then presented a target sentence fragment, such as "The tourist guide mentioned the bells of the church that . . .," which subjects had to complete. When the mathematical equations were solved correctly, their structure influenced the noun phrase--for example, either "the bells of the church" or "the church," respectively--that subjects chose to attach their sentence completion to. These experiments provide the first demonstration of cross-domain structural priming from mathematics to language. They highlight the importance of global structural representations at a very high level of abstraction and have potentially far-reaching implications regarding the domain generality of structural representations.     

Communicating across cultures: A social skills perspective

This paper considers some of the difficulties that people experience when communicating with people from another culture. The concept of culture shock is discussed in some detail. The best predictors of the successful business sojourn are then described. Five methods of training in interpersonal skills are discussed followed by typical examples of cultural differences in social behaviour.     

The structure of goal contents across 15 cultures

The authors investigated the structure of goal contents in a group of 1,854 undergraduates from 15 cultures around the world. Results suggested that the 11 types of goals the authors assessed were consistently organized in a circumplex fashion across the 15 cultures. The circumplex was well described by positioning 2 primary dimensions underlying the goals: intrinsic (e.g., self-acceptance, affiliation) versus extrinsic (e.g., financial success, image) and self-transcendent (e.g., spirituality) versus physical (e.g., hedonism). The circumplex model of goal contents was also quite similar in both wealthier and poorer nations, although there were some slight cross-cultural variations. The relevance of these results for several theories of motivation and personality are discussed.     

Nature and nurture: Williams syndrome across cultures

This study is concerned with ways in which children with Williams syndrome (WS), a rare neurodevelopmental disorder arising from a hemizygous deletion in chromosome band 7q11.23 including the gene for elastin (ELN) and approximately 20 surrounding genes, are affected by social mores of vastly differing cultures: the United States and Japan. WS presents a compelling model for the investigation because its genetic phenotype is well defined and results in an uneven cognitive profile as well as a social phenotype typical of the syndrome including overt over-friendliness toward strangers. While a number of research groups have been studying the cognitive strengths and weaknesses of individuals with WS in various countries, there have not been studies to date that explore the social phenotype in WS across different cultures. This study examines the ways in which social behavior in WS, stemming from specific genetic underpinnings, might be mediated by cultural expectations. We conducted a cross-cultural study using an instrument that measures aspects of sociability commonly found among people with WS. Quantitative analyses revealed a significant effect of diagnostic category in that in both countries, children with WS were rated as significantly higher in global sociability and more likely to approach strangers than were their normal counterparts. There was also an effect of culture, in that regardless of category, WS and normal children in Japan were rated lower than their counterparts in the US. We suggest that the excessively social phenotype of children with Williams syndrome, although markedly present across cultures, appears to vary in its intensity by culture. This is an intriguing illustration of interactions between nature and nurture.     

Cognitive arithmetic: Evidence for right hemispheric mediation in an elementary component stage

Earlier studies involving the lateralization of arithmetic abilities have provided evidence for both right and left hemisphere superiorities. It is argued here that part of this inconsistency could be due to the complexity of the arithmetic computations which have been examined. The present studies examined a subprocess shown to be involved in more complex tasks, such as subtraction. The subprocess is the identification of which of two numbers is greater, and was tested by the flashing of a pair of digits to either the left or right visual field. Errors, reaction-times to make a decision, and examination of hand × visual field interactions all indicated that this subprocess is mediated by the right hemisphere. Correlational analysis was used to identify the operations underlying the observed lateralization of this ability. This analysis indicated that an operation indexed by the spatial order in which the digits were presented was effective in the right hemisphere but not the left hemisphere. Speculations on the nature of these operations were presented.     

Cognitive neutralising strategies and their use across differing stressor types

Abstract

Three studies are described which investigate the kinds of strategies that individuals use to devalue the threatening meaning of a stressor (cognitive neutralising strategies, CNS). These studies identified seven factorially independent constructs corresponding to Downward Comparison, Positive Reappraisal, Cognitive Disengagement, Optimism, Faith in Social Support, Denial and Life Perspective. The use of CNS was highly correlated with the use of problem-focused coping strategies regardless of stressor type, but associated with the use of avoidance coping and emotion-focused coping only in the case of certain stressor types. The role of CNS in the coping process is discussed in the light of the present results.     

The context sensitivity of visual size perception varies across cultures

There is evidence that East Asian cultures have more context-sensitive styles of reasoning, memory, attention, and scene perception than Western cultures. Lower levels of the perceptual hierarchy seem likely to be similar in all cultures, however, so we compared context sensitivity in Japan with that in the UK using a rigorous psychophysical measure of the effects of centre-surround contrast on size discrimination. In both cultures context sensitivity was greater for females working in the social sciences than for males working in the mathematical sciences. More surprisingly, context sensitivity was also much greater in Japan than in the UK. These findings show that, even at low levels of the visual-processing hierarchy, context sensitivity varies across cultures, and they raise important issues for both vision scientists and cross-cultural psychologists.