A review of the cultural psychology literature reveals that some ethnic groups consistently perform differently on even the most basic cognitive tasks. Specifically, Asians have been shown to attend to more contextual information than Caucasians when processing information. In order to determine if such processing differences impact category learning, the proposed projects will investigate whether three cultural groups within the United States (Asian, Caucasian, and Latino) perform differently on the perceptual categorization task, a paradigm used extensively in studies of category learning. In addition to examining potential differences in accuracy, the use of this task also allows the application of mathematical models that help to specify in greater detail the types of categorization strategies participants actually use when learning the task. The proposed project will also go a step beyond simple ethnic group comparisons and examine the impact of cultural practices and a two-factor acculturation model as a means of understanding both between and within group differences. This study has the potential to greatly increase our knowledge and understanding of cultural disparities in cognitive assessment with respect to category learning and neurocognition in general. ? ? ?
