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A Cultural Neuroscience Approach to the Biosocial Nature of the Human Brain PS64CH13-Han ARI 8 November 2012 10:8 A Cultural Neuroscience Approach to the Biosocial Nature of the Human Brain Shihui Han,1 Georg Northoff,2 Kai Vogeley,3,4 Bruce E. Wexler,5 Shinobu Kitayama,6 and Michael E.W. Varnum1 1Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China; email: [email protected] 2Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics, Institute of Mental Health Research University of Ottawa, Ottawa ON K1Z 7K4, Canada 3Department of Psychiatry, University of Cologne, Cologne 50924, Germany 4Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Cognitive Neuroscience (INM3), Research Center Juelich, Juelich 52425, Germany 5Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06519 6Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1109 Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2013. 64:335–59 Keywords by University of Ottawa on 10/29/13. For personal use only. First published online as a Review in Advance on cultural neuroscience, culture, brain imaging, human brain, race September 17, 2012 Abstract Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2013.64:335-359. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org The Annual Review of Psychology is online at psych.annualreviews.org Cultural neuroscience (CN) is an interdisciplinary field that investigates This article’s doi: the relationship between culture (e.g., value and belief systems and prac- 10.1146/annurev-psych-071112-054629 tices shared by groups) and human brain functions. In this review we Copyright c 2013 by Annual Reviews. describe the origin, aims, and methods of CN as well as its conceptual All rights reserved framework and major findings. We also clarify several misunderstand- ings of CN research. Finally, we discuss the implications of CN findings for understanding human brain function in sociocultural contexts and novel questions that future CN research should address. By doing so, we hope to provide a clear picture of the CN approach to the human brain and culture and to elucidate the intrinsically biosocial nature of the functional organization of the human brain. 335 PS64CH13-Han ARI 8 November 2012 10:8 CN touches upon concepts such as humans, Contents culture, and race that are often used in a wider context beyond and outside CN. Thus it is INTRODUCTION.................. 336 important to take stock of the progress so far WHAT IS CULTURAL by providing a comprehensive overview of NEUROSCIENCE?............... 336 the field as well as addressing some questions Origin. 337 and concerns that have been voiced about this KeyConcepts...................... 338 endeavor. The goals of the current review are Aims.............................. 340 (a) to elucidate the origin, aims and concepts, Methods........................... 342 empirical methods, and findings of CN studies; Findings........................... 344 (b) to clarify misunderstanding of CN findings; WHAT IS CULTURAL (c) to discuss the implications of CN findings NEUROSCIENCE NOT? . 351 for understanding the biosocial nature of the IMPLICATIONS OF CULTURAL human brain; and (d ) to address key questions NEUROSCIENCE FINDINGS . 352 for future CN studies. FUTURE QUESTIONS FOR CULTURAL NEUROSCIENCE................ 353 WHAT IS CULTURAL CONCLUSION..................... 354 NEUROSCIENCE? The term cultural neuroscience was initially introduced by Chiao & Ambady (2007, p. 238), who defined CN as “a theoretical and empirical INTRODUCTION approach to investigate and characterize the During the past few years, brain imaging mechanisms by which [the] hypothesized bidi- studies have uncovered variations in the neural rectional, mutual constitution of culture, brain, substrates of human cognition in different and genes occurs.” This definition was further cultural groups. The integration of theory and refined by Chiao (2010, p. 109), who described methods from social and cultural psychology, CN as an “interdisciplinary field bridging cognitive neuroscience, and other related cultural psychology, neurosciences and neuro- disciplines gave birth to a new field—cultural genetics that explains how the neurobiological neuroscience (CN). This new field investigates processes, such as genetic expression and brain how human brain functions are shaped by function, give rise to cultural values, practices by University of Ottawa on 10/29/13. For personal use only. interactions between culture, the brain, and and beliefs as well as how culture shapes genes. CN has developed specific methods for neurobiological processes across macro- and uncovering cultural influences on human brain microtime scales.” These concepts resonate Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2013.64:335-359. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org functions, and it has provided a new perspective with recent efforts to integrate research findings on the functional organization of the human from neuroscience, genetics, developmental brain in sociocultural environments. The psychology, and sociology by highlighting growth of this new field can be seen in the in- the role of postnatal neuroplasticity in human creasing number of research articles and several development (e.g., Li 2003, Wexler 2006). In special issues dedicated to CN (e.g., Progress the remainder of this section we seek to provide in Brain Research in 2009; Social Cognitive and a description of CN, starting with its origin and Affective Neuroscience in 2010) in addition to aims. Next we define key theoretical concepts edited books (e.g., Han & Poppel¨ 2011) and its in CN. This is followed by an overview of coverage in textbooks (e.g., Ward 2012). common CN methodology. Finally, we end CN is receiving more and more attention the section by reviewing the empirical findings from researchers in different fields because of CN studies using different methods. 336 Han et al. PS64CH13-Han ARI 8 November 2012 10:8 Origin processes develop and are shaped (Kitayama CN emerges from the integration of differ- & Uskul 2011). The findings of cultural psychological research stimulate researchers ent branches of social sciences and natural sci- Independent ences and arises mainly from two disciplines, to investigate neural substrates of cultural self-construal: i.e., cultural psychology, which has provided diversity of human cognition and emotion. a tendency to view the the insight that cognitive, emotional, and mo- self as autonomous and bounded; an emphasis tivational tendencies and habits are shaped by Social cognitive neuroscience. Social cogni- tive neuroscience research investigates brain on affirming the culture, and neuroscience, which has demon- independence and strated that the brain is shaped by experience. mechanisms that allow human beings to uniqueness of the self understand the self and others and to effi- We here show that CN is based on four key ap- Interdependent proaches, i.e., cultural psychology, social cogni- ciently navigate social environments (Ochsner self-construal: tive neuroscience, the study of neuroplasticity, & Lieberman 2001). Early social cognitive a tendency to view the self as interconnected and the study of culture × gene interactions. neuroscience research focused on the neural substrates underpinning social cognition by and overlapping with combining brain imaging and social psycho- close others; an emphasis on affirming Cultural psychology. Although there is a logical paradigms. Most of these studies aimed close relationships and long history of the debate about the concept to uncover the neural mechanisms of social maintaining harmony of culture (Kroeber & Kluckhohn 1952), it is cognition and behavior without considering within them commonly acknowledged that cultural groups potential cultural differences. However, an have differentiated over thousands of years to important feature of social cognition and create what has been called cultural speciation behavior is context dependence. We are always (Goodall & Berman 1999). The resulting situationally embedded in a certain envi- cultural differences still exist in our globalized ronment, the “context,” which substantially world and are associated with certain differ- influences our perception of others and our ences in the ways people think and behave. understanding of the behavior of others. This These differences exist side by side with context dependency itself underlies substantial many cross-cultural commonalities. Cultural influences exerted by culture. In other words, differences in human behaviors are very well what social information is processed and how documented in anthropology (e.g., Haviland it is processed rely heavily on one’s interaction et al. 2008), and human development has been partners (in the case of dyadic interactions) viewed as a process of acquiring and embodying and, more broadly, on the social context in culture’s belief systems (Rogoff 2003). Cultural which the interactions occur. For example, cul- by University of Ottawa on 10/29/13. For personal use only. differences in human mental processes and tural psychological studies have documented underlying cognitive mechanisms have been numerous variations in social cognitive pro- investigated extensively in cultural psychology cesses across different cultural contexts, such Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2013.64:335-359. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org during the past two decades. From this line as construal of the self (Markus & Kitayama of research, theoretical frameworks such as 1991, 2010), causal attribution of physical individualistic versus collectivistic values, inde- and social events (Choi et al. 1999), analytic pendent self-construals versus interdependent versus holistic attention (Masuda
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