Toward a More Representative Brain: the Importance and Absence of Diversity in Human Neuroscience Research Across the Lifespan

doi:10.3389/978-2-88966-883-0

Cited by 3 publications

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“…Our aim in writing this paper is to assess from within the field of cognitive psychology why considering culture is a useful endeavor that benefits our understanding of the human mind. The ideas shared in this paper developed in the context of recent calls to widen participation in psychological science and cognitive neuroscience (e.g., Abiodun, 2019;Barnes et al, 2021;Dotson & Duarte, 2020;Qu et al, 2021;Roberts et al, 2020), acknowledging how the characteristics of the participants in studies, the background and training of the scientists, and the geography of where the work is conducted are important aspects of the diversity of the population to which we want to generalize findings. In concert with efforts by leading journals and societies, our goal in this paper is to take stock of variety in the representation of population and topics, addressing the broad range of influences that culture exerts on cognition.…”

Section: Consideration Of Culture In Cognition: How We Can Enrich Met...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Consideration of Culture in Cognition: How We Can Enrich Methodology and Theory

Gutchess¹,

Rajaram²

2022

Preprint

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In this paper, we argue that adopting an inclusive approach where diverse cultures are represented in research is of prime importance for cognitive psychology. To date, the inclusion of culture in cognition has not been entrenched in the mainstream of cognitive psychology. We propose that the time has come for this to change. In an analysis of articles in representative cognitive psychology journals over the five-year period of 2016-2020, we find that only approximately 7% of articles consider culture, broadly defined. Of these articles, a majority (83%) focus on language or bilingualism, with the small number of remaining articles considering a variety of aspects of culture on an array of cognitive processes. As our discipline aspires to make research more global and collaborative, cognitive psychologists will benefit by expanding sample selection beyond the WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) samples that have constituted the vast majority of research participants thus far. Advances in methodology and theory made possible by the last century of cognitive research can be not only leveraged, but also will be enriched by a study of more diverse populations, paving the way to uncover cognitive processes that may be universal or can systematically differ as a function of cultural variations. To make a case for broadening this scope, we characterize the types of research conducted thus far that bring a cross-cultural lens to the study of cognition, and we discuss classic cognitive research that is in line with incorporating a cross-cultural perspective and the compatibility between a cross-cultural perspective and the classic tenets of cognitive psychology. Recognizing that not every research question calls for a cross-cultural perspective, we make suggestions for how researchers can enrich the study of cognitive psychology by broadening their approaches to incorporate greater cultural representation in the study of cognition.

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Section: Consideration Of Culture In Cognition: How We Can Enrich Met...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Consideration of Culture in Cognition: How We Can Enrich Methodology and Theory

Gutchess¹,

Rajaram²

2022

Preprint

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“…Black communities in the United States face a disproportionately high burden of chronic stress and trauma due to racial discrimination and systemic inequities, which are in turn associated with mental and physical health disparities (Carter et al, 2021;Kirkinis et al, 2021). Despite this fact, Black Americans have been historically ignored in intergenerational research (Barnes et al, 2021).…”

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confidence: 99%

Associations of maternal emotion regulation with child white matter connectivity in Black American mother–child dyads

Wang

Barrie

Powers

et al. 2022

Developmental Psychobiology

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Parental emotion regulation plays a major role in parent-child interactions, and in turn, neural plasticity in children, particularly during sensitive developmental periods. However, little is known about how parental emotion dysregulation is associated with variation in children's brain structure, which was the goal of this study. Fortyfive Black American mother-child dyads were recruited from an intergenerational trauma study; emotion regulation in mothers and their children (age 8-13 years) was assessed. Diffusion-weighted images were collected in children; deterministic tractography was used to reconstruct pathways of relevance to emotion regulation. Metrics of white matter connectivity [fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD)] were extracted for pathways. Socio-economic variables were also included in statistical models. Maternal emotion dysregulation was the strongest predictor of child fornix MD (r = .35, p = .001), indicating that more severe emotion dysregulation in mothers corresponded with lower fornix connectivity in children. Maternal impulsivity was a strong predictor of child fornix MD (r = .51, p < .001). Maternal emotion dysregulation may adversely influence connectivity of the child.s fornix, a hippocampal-striatal pathway implicated in reward processes; these associations remained even after accounting for other socio-environmental factors. Dysregulated maternal emotions may uniquely impact children's adaptation to trauma/stress by affecting networks that support appetitive processing.

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Consideration of culture in cognition: How we can enrich methodology and theory

Gutchess

Rajaram

2022

Psychon Bull Rev

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Toward a More Representative Brain: the Importance and Absence of Diversity in Human Neuroscience Research Across the Lifespan

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Consideration of Culture in Cognition: How We Can Enrich Methodology and Theory

Consideration of Culture in Cognition: How We Can Enrich Methodology and Theory

Associations of maternal emotion regulation with child white matter connectivity in Black American mother–child dyads

Consideration of culture in cognition: How we can enrich methodology and theory

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