Hedden and his colleagues (2008) examined the brain activity of East Asians and European Americans while they underwent an fMRI. They found that Americans had more brain activity when they were told to pay attention to the box around the line than when they paid attention to the line. Why was there greater brain activity in this condition?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

East Asians and European Americans have different attentional styles, with East Asians tending to focus more on context and Europeans focusing more on specific objects. In this study, Americans were being asked to focus on the context (the box), which is not their typical way of perceiving objects. Therefore, their brains had to work harder to perceive the objects in this way, leading to greater brain activity.

Hedden and His Colleagues (2008) Examined the Brain Activity of East