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Understanding Differences in Cognition Across the Lifespan: Comparing Eastern and Western Cultures

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Neuropsychology of Asians and Asian-Americans

Part of the book series: Issues of Diversity in Clinical Neuropsychology ((ISSUESDIV))

Abstract

In psychological research, an individual’s approach to cognitive tasks varies across cultures. Nowhere is this more evident than in studies comparing performance between individuals from Asian and Western societies. The current chapter summarizes cognitive research comparing Asian and Western samples across the lifespan. The results indicate that there are differences in academic achievement, which appear largely sociocultural in origin. While there are few studies assessing cognitive skills cross-culturally in children, in adulthood, a consistent pattern emerges in which skills such as visual perception and reasoning are more context-dependent in Eastern cultures. In the elderly, there is greater evidence for culture-specific patterns of cognitive decline in pathological, as opposed to normal aging, which may reflect various genetic, neurobiological, and sociocultural influences. Etiology aside, these culture-based differences in cognition across the lifespan are evidence that far more research is needed. Furthermore, the validity of clinical neuropsychology as a field, which relies upon such research, is compromised when efforts are not made to study and utilize such cross-cultural data.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Yuka Matsuzawa, Psy. D. for her helpful insights on this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Av. Padre Tomás Pereira, Taipa, Macao SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Charles Zaroff Ph.D.

  2. Department of School Psychology, Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 325 N. Wells Street, Chicago, IL, 60654, USA

    Rik Carl D’Amato Ph.D.

  3. Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 5 East 98th Street, 1139, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    H. Allison Bender Ph.D.

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  1. Charles Zaroff Ph.D.
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  2. Rik Carl D’Amato Ph.D.
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  3. H. Allison Bender Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Charles Zaroff Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

    J. Mark Davis

  2. Department of School Psychology, Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Rik Carl D'Amato

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Zaroff, C., D’Amato, R.C., Bender, H.A. (2014). Understanding Differences in Cognition Across the Lifespan: Comparing Eastern and Western Cultures. In: Davis, J., D'Amato, R. (eds) Neuropsychology of Asians and Asian-Americans. Issues of Diversity in Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8075-4_6

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