Self-orientation modulates the neural correlates of global and local processing

Abstract

Differences in self-orientation (or "self-construal") may affect how the visual environment is attended, but the neural and cultural mechanisms that drive this remain unclear. Behavioral studies have demonstrated that people from Western backgrounds with predominant individualistic values are perceptually biased towards local-level information; whereas people from non-Western backgrounds that support collectivist values are preferentially focused on contextual and global-level information. In this study, we compared two groups differing in predominant individualistic (N=15) vs collectivistic (N=15) self-orientation. Participants completed a global/local perceptual conflict task whilst underg..