Re-assessing the role of culture on the visual orientation perception of the rod and frame test
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: In recent research of culture and ethnicity in visual perception, some researchers have found support for the hypothesis that more collectivistic cultures tend to be more influenced by surrounding contextual visual information than more individualistic cultures. This hypothesis suggests that even low-level visual perception may not be universal and has great implications on how vision research should be conducted. The current study reexamines this hypothesis in the rod and frame task, which tests the influence of a tilted contextual frame on orientation perception of the rod. We found no difference between participants of East Asian and Western European descent in this task. Despite not finding the cultural effect, we found a well-reported gender effect in which women were more influenced by the tilt of the frame than men, helping to ensure the quality of the data collected. Our results suggest that contextual influence on visual perception does not affect East Asians and white Western Europeans differently.
Source: PLoS ONE
Authors: Chéla R. Willey, Zili Liu
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,805
OpenAlex ID: W4306897071