More Individual Differences Culture, Age, & Expertise

More Individual Differences: Culture, Age, & Expertise __________________________________________ 1) Discuss important questions relating to research on the effect of culture on cognition. 2) Describe a variety of dimensions along which cultures differ. 3) Examine cultural differences in a variety of cognitive behaviors: • Perception • Memory • Influence of language 4) Discuss the contribution of biological and nonbiological factors on cognitive changes across the lifespan. 5) Contrast the three main theories of cognitive decline. 6) Present the conditions that minimize age differences in cognition. 7) Explain how expertise influences cognition. Cultural Differences in Cognition: Key Concepts __________________________________________ Key Concept #1: It’s not enough to show that people raised in different parts of the world, or different countries or different parts of the same country behave differently. EX: Cross-cultural studies of digit span Key Concept #2: Experimental control is EX: random assignment Key Concept #3: Culture-fair / culture-free tests EX: SAT; GRE Moroccan rug merchants A Brief Primer on Cultural Dimensions __________________________________________ 1) Tightness – # / strictness of EX: Taliban Manuel Mattke’s feelings about Europe 2) Vertical / Horizontal Relationships – EX: Dissatisfied students Gender roles 3) Complexity – EX: hunter/gatherer 4) Activity/Passivity EX: capitalism vs. Zen 5) Honor – extreme sensitivity to affronts and EX: Miguel Knipper y El Senor Jamaica (correlated with surface politeness) 6) Collectivism / Individualism – the extent to which the EX: East vs. West Perceptual Differences __________________________________________ Depth perception - formal education/exposure to pictures Perceptual Differences: More examples ______________________________________________ Müller-Lyer Horizontal/vertical illusions Is this cultural difference related to culture, or is it an effect of training / experience? • Jungle dweller on the plains Differences in the Perception of Emotion __________________________________________ Culture of honor - a culture in which maintaining one’s o Aaron Burr o More likely to be killed by someone you know Differences between the North and the South Method: • Two people are asked to complete a task together. • The confederate acts like a jerk in an attempt to provoke a response from the subject. o Arm smack while writing o Tossing crumpled paper Result #1: Result #2: Other subjects watched videotapes and were asked to assess the subject’s mood and likelihood of strong response. o Difference between Tammy and me Studies of Memory __________________________________________ Spontaneous categorization • Developmental track across level of Important Question: Does this reflect different memory processes? Evidence: When recall was prompted by category, performance Interpretation: Memory works the same Why? ______________________________________________ Related findings: • Spontaneous categorization varies across level of industrialization: o However, use structure when instructed or when culturally relevant o Interpretation: ‘Form Follows Function’ • Children raised in nomadic cultures do better on certain spatial memory tasks Cultural universality vs. relativism – Language as a Cultural Mediator of Behavior __________________________________________ Whorfian Hypothesis - Language controls (constrains) thought. Positive Evidence: • Eskimos have 100 words for snow. • Color naming studies Negative Evidence: • Color memory studies • replication has been lacking • major difficulty in defining terms and deciphering the strengths of the relationship ______________________________________ Linguistic Codability - memory and perception are influenced by the EX: Color Naming studies Jellybean studies Hoffman, Lau & Johnson ______________________________________________ Theoretical question: Will language influence memory and perception for social targets? Empirical question: Will ‘personality types’ with more or less efficient, economical labels influence memory and perception? Method: Recognition test for descriptions of 4 characters English Chinese Artistic shì gù Liberal shēn cáng bú lòu Predictions: • More likely to respond Results: Interpretations: Culture or Language? Cognitive Gerontology __________________________________________ Write down 5 words that come to mind when you think about aging: Two important points: 1. Younger adults frequently make the same errors as older adults. • Forgetting people’s names • Losing their way • Forgetting important appointments • Medication 2. Stereotypes about aging are culturally-determined • Asian aging stereotypes are very different o Older adults raised in Asian cultures Age Differences in Cognition: Biology or Culture? __________________________________________ One of the broadest, most common results in the cognitive gerontology literature is that, relative to younger adults, older adults perform worse IQ Score 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 5 15 25 35 45 Age 55 65 75 Deficits in Working Memory __________________________________________ Working Memory • VSSP • Phonological Loop • Central Executive Age differences on span tasks: Digit Span Task: 4 9 5 6 1 8 3 6 Word Span Task: hat baby closet mouse book pencil … Reading Span Task: "Unfortunately, Bob had to take the box back to the old man's home. "After a long day at the beach, Susan remembered she had a hair appointment. "Even though the children were playing happily, the babysitter appeared very concerned. 3 Major Theories of WM decline _______________________________________ 1) Capacity – Evidence: Span tasks 2) Speed – Younger brains work faster than older brains. Evidence: • completing a maze • circling letters on a page • completing simple arithmetic questions • digit-symbol tasks AND: there is a high correlation between speed basedtasks and Problem: There is also a high correlation between complex cognitive tasks and… 3rd Theory of WM Deficits ______________________________________________ …Inhibition Older adults' inhibitory mechanisms are compromised relative to those of Younger adults. List 1 List 2 Directed Forgetting Paradigm • OA show worse memory • Incorrectly intrude more Even more pronounced if TBR and TBF items are interspersed in the same list (color-coded). Aging Differences: Episodic LTM __________________________________________ Type of test influences the magnitude of age differences: Study the following list of words: dog, table, penny a) Repeat the list of words back to me. b) Fill each of the following stems with a word from the list. d_____ t_______ p_______ c) Which of the following words were presented in the list? book license fish table penny gumdrop Age differences decline from a) to b) to c) Why? Theoretical explanations: age diffs in episodic LTM ______________________________________________ Capacity Speed Inhibition: Strategic differences • Imagery – OA use imagery less spontaneously; thus, • Sub/Objective organization of TBR information. Dog Apple Table Cat Orange Chair Mouse Banana Bed Pig • Content vs. technical accuracy OA aim for gist; YA aim for verbatim Why? • Perseverative errors Less able to switch to a new strategy Age Diffs: Spatial Memory __________________________________________ Locations (i.e., keys, wallet) • OA YA • However, familiarity o Familiar vs. unfamiliar grocery store o Home vs. novel environment vs. Routes • No age differences in • However, subsequent attempts to draw a map of the space showed a clear advantage for Other Age Differences __________________________________________ Source Monitoring – Distinguishing the source of a memory. • Did I roll up the windows of my car? • Did I do the dishes last night or did Tammy? • I heard that the ‘George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine’ knocks out the fat. Did I read that in the NY Times or hear that on the infomercial? HUGE age differences. Except… Prospective Memory – Remembering to do something in the future EX: turn on the dishwasher. • Time-based tasks – • Event-based tasks – Two factors affect age differences: • Type of task – • Complexity of task – Age diffs vary directly The Good news: It isn't all down hill ______________________________________________ Practice Age differences tend to decrease across the length of Familiarity List 1 Walkman Megabyte Disc List 2 Victrola Jitterbug Bobbysox Age Diffs No Age Diffs Type of test influences Age Diffs a) Recall vs. Recognition b) Details vs. Gist c) Speeded vs. at own pace d) Implicit vs. Explicit e) Procedural vs. declarative Forgetting OA and YA show More reasons to be hopeful __________________________________________ Other factors that influence cognitive decline: "Use it or Lose it" • Old Professors Study Exercise Education Levels Semantic Memory • meanings of words (vocabulary) • general knowledge • comprehension of text Situational (rather than biological) causes of decline • Beliefs about memory • Anxiety and worry • Stereotype activation • Time of day Non-biological theories of Age Differences __________________________________________ Stereotype threat - If there is a negative stereotype about a group, and a member of that group is placed in a threatening situation in which the stereotype applies, Claude Steele - African-American and Caucasian students at Stanford took a verbal section of the GRE. Varied the instructions to the subjects: Measuring IQ: Psychological Processes: Causal Mechanisms: • anxiety • motivation • dis-identify • self-efficacy Rahhal, Hasher, & Colcombe (2001) __________________________________________ Theoretical Question: Empirical Question: Method: Subjects learn obscure trivia statements. • It takes 6 hours to boil an ostrich egg. • The extended right arm of the Statue of Liberty is 46 feet. • All of the fleas in the flea circuses are males. • 50% of dentists in Greece are women. Key manipulation – Test measures either: • • Predictions: Interpretation: Rahhal, et al. (2001): Data __________________________________________ Experiment 1 Experiment 2 Other studies related to stereotype activation __________________________________________ De-bunking • Age diffs: • Gender diffs: Implicit activation (Colcombe) Caucasian subjects Subliminal exposure to faces of different races: AA, C, or Asian 3 dependent measures • GREs • Rhythmic tapping • Basketball shooting Experts vs. Novices _______________________________________ Experts Knowledge base Large, detailed, interconnected Organization Structural similarity Direction of attack Forward (What do I know and how does it relate to the domain?) Novices Small, disjointed Surface similarity Metaknowledge Backward (What do I need to find out and what can I do to figure it out?) What kind of What do I need to problem is this? do to solve the problem? Procedures Procedures require become automatic attention Excellent Poor Self-monitoring Good Poor Typicality Greatly influences performance Flexible; can incorporate new information Has relatively little effect Less flexible; can’t switch out of incorrect strategy First question: Automaticity Flexibility Expertise ___________________________________________ Chase & Simon(1973) Theoretical explanation for Chess data ______________________________________ Experts… • …are smarter: • …have better memories: • …organize information differently: • …have developed task-oriented perceptual skills: Reingold, Charness, Pomplun, & Stampe (2001) ______________________________________ Theoretical Question: Empirical Question: Method: Procedural: • Gaze Contingent Window • Randomization Independent Variables • Experts vs. Novices • Random vs. Ordered • Symbols vs. Letters Dependent Variables • Change Detection • Check Detection Results: • Experts extracted more information • Interactions with randomness • Interaction with familiarity Reingold, et al. (2001): Data ______________________________________ Change Detection Check Detection