Social Area Brown Bag

Cristina Salvador
Title: Alpha Oscillations and Self-referential processing: Implications for Cultural variation in the Self

Abstract:
Functional neuroimaging studies have revealed that at rest the brain shows high activation in a network of cortical regions known as the default mode network. Consistent with this work, electrocortical studies demonstrate that alpha, a neural oscillation, similarly increases in power during rest and when people engage in self-referential processing. However, there are substantial individual and cultural differences in alpha power during rest. Here, we tested whether variation in alpha power could be explained by culture and self-construal. Previous cross-cultural work established that American culture tends to emphasize the autonomy of the self (independence), whereas Asian culture tends to emphasize the self in reference to others (interdependence). We hypothesized that alpha power would be greater among Americans than Asians and should increase as a function of independent versus interdependent self-construal. To test these predictions, we collected data from a total 172 participants and compared Japanese to European Americans (Study 1) and Taiwanese to European Americans (Study 2). In both studies, we found greater parietal versus frontal alpha power among American participants compared to the two Asian groups. Importantly, the magnitude of alpha power was highly correlated with self-construal across cultures, such that more independent and less interdependent people showed greater alpha at rest. This effect in part explained the cultural difference in alpha power. Our findings provide evidence that alpha oscillations may in part underlie cultural variation in self-construal and highlight the promise of alpha oscillations to understand self-referential processing and variation across groups.

Clinton McKenna
Smartening up or dumbing down? The role of numeracy in motivated reasoning