Previous findings in cultural psychology indicated that East Asians are more likely than North Americans to be attentive to contextual information (e.g., Nisbett & Masuda, 2003). However, to what extent and in which conditions culture influences patterns of attention has not been fully examined. As a result, universal patterns of attention may be obscured, and culturally unique patterns may be wrongly assumed to be constant across situations. By carrying out two cross-cultural studies, we demonstrated that (a) both European Canadians and Japanese attended to moving objects similarly when the task was to simply observe the visual information; however, (b) there were cultural variations in patterns of attention when participants actively engaged in the task by constructing narratives of their observation (narrative construction). These findings suggest that cultural effects are most pronounced in narrative construction conditions, where the need to act in accordance with a culturally shared meaning system is elicited.

Previous findings have indicated that, when presented with visual information, North American undergraduate students selectively attend to focal objects, whereas East Asian undergraduate students are more sensitive to background information. However, little is known about how these differences are driven by culture and socialization processes. In this study, two experiments investigated how young children and their parents used culturally unique modes of attention (selective vs. context sensitive attention). We expected that children would slowly learn culturally unique modes of attention, and the experience of communicating with their parents would aid the development of such modes of attention. Study 1 tested children’s solitary performance by examining Canadian and Japanese children’s (4–6 vs. 7–9 years old) modes of attention during a scene description task, whereby children watched short animations by themselves and then described their observations. The results confirmed that children did not demonstrate significant cross-cultural differences in attention during the scene description task while working independently, although results did show rudimentary signs of culturally unique modes of attention in this task scenario by age 9. Study 2 examined parent–child (4–6 and 7–9 years old) dyads using the same task. The results indicated that parents communicated to their children differently across cultures, replicating attentional differences among undergraduate students in previous cross-cultural studies. Study 2 also demonstrated that children’s culturally unique description styles increased significantly with age. The descriptions made by the older group (7–9 years old) showed significant cross-cultural variances in attention, while descriptions among the younger group (4–6 years old) did not. The significance of parental roles in the development of culturally unique modes of attention is discussed in addition to other possible facilitators of this developmental process.

Previous research has documented systematic cultural variations in adults’ cognitive processes. In particular, research on culture and aesthetics suggests that East Asian adults’ aesthetic expression tends to be holistic and context-oriented, whereas North American adults’ aesthetic expression tends to be analytic and object-oriented (Masuda, Gonzalez, Kwan, & Nisbett, 2008). However, research focusing specifically on the developmental processes of such cultural differences in children’s artworks is lacking, with the notable exception of an empirical study conducted by Rübeling et al. (2011). Our current research examined whether school-age children in Grades 1 through 6 exhibit these culturally unique patterns of expression, and if so, when. Children were asked to produce either landscape drawings (Study 1, n = 495) or landscape collages using ready-made items (Study 2, n = 376). The results indicated that children in both cultures gradually develop expressions unique to each culture. Although Grade 1 children’s artworks were still similar across cultures, artworks in Grade 2 and higher showed substantial cultural variations. Japanese children were more likely than their Canadian counterparts to place the horizon higher in the visual space and to include more pieces of information. The higher placement of the horizon is linked to the context-oriented visual attention style seen in adults’ drawings and historical paintings in East Asian cultures, as opposed to object-focused drawing styles commonly seen in North American cultures. We also report culturally similar patterns in the developmental trajectory and discuss the internalization process of culturally dominant patterns of perception.

Research on cultural products suggest that there are substantial cultural variations between East Asian and European landscape masterpieces and contemporary members' landscape artwork (Masuda et al., 2008c), and that these cultural differences in drawing styles emerge around the age of 8 (Senzaki et al., 2014b). However, culture is not static. To explore the dynamics of historical and ontogenetic influence on artistic expressions, we examined (1) 17–20th century Japanese and Western landscape masterpieces, and (2) cross-sectional adolescent data in landscape artworks alongside previous findings of elementary school-aged children, and undergraduates. The results showed cultural variations in artworks and masterpieces as well as substantial “cultural drifts” (Herskovits, 1948) where at certain time periods in history and in development, people's expressions deviated from culturally default patterns but occasionally returned to its previous state. The bidirectional influence of culture and implications for furthering the discipline of cultural psychology will be discussed.

Two studies examined the effectiveness of a flashcard-based study strategy, Flashcards-Plus, in an ecologically valid context. The strategy requires students to create flashcards designed to increase their ability to retain, comprehend, and apply textbook material to exams. In Studies 1a (n ¼ 73) and 1b (n ¼ 62), we introduced all students to the Flashcards-Plus method and compared their exam scores. Students who used this strategy scored significantly higher than those who did not. In Study 2 (n ¼ 434), we randomly assigned six introductory psychology courses to either receive a classroom lecture with the Flashcards-Plus strategy (i.e., three experimental courses) or no lecture (i.e., three control courses). Students in the experimental courses scored significantly higher than those in the control courses after the lecture. The results from all three studies demonstrate that students who were introduced to the Flashcards-Plus study strategy scored significantly higher on exams following the lecture than students who were not. These findings suggest that this easily implemented teaching strategy can help students achieve deeper levels of processing (i.e., comprehension and application) in a self-directed manner, which benefit students' performance.