Abstract:
Research on cross-cultural perception and experience-dependent plasticity has shown that cultural milieu can influence the way information is processed and what strategies are employed to deal with our ever-changing environment. Our research focuses on memory and if acculturation and cultural values of East Asians affect cognition. Specifically, this research examined if acculturation impacts the self-reference effect in mainland Chinese immigrants. Participants first encoded trait-based words (adjectives, such as “wealthy” or “nasty”), presented in Simplified Mandarin on a computer screen. These were presented along with a target referent—either the self, close other, or farm animal. They responded as to whether these apply to either themselves, a close other, or a farm animal by pressing a key for yes or no. During testing, or retrieval, participants then decided as to whether these previous items and new items are the same as the encoded stimuli or are novel lures (i.e., “same” or “new” items). Questionnaires were administered for between-subjects analyses. These included the Sociocultural Adaptation Scale (SCAS) (Demes & Geeraert, 2014), the Schwarz Culture Value Scale (SVS), the Singelis Self-Construal Scale (SCS), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD) (Zhang, Fokkema, Cuijpers, Smits, & Beekman, 2011). Results suggest that acculturation does not impact the self-reference effect for young adult international students.
