The present study examined whether the three major functions of autobiographical memory observed in Western societies (i.e., directing-behaviour, social-bonding and self-continuity) also exist in an East Asian society. Two self-report measures were used to assess the autobiographical memory functions of Japanese men and women. Japanese young adults (N = 451, ages 17-28 years) first completed the original Thinking About Life Experiences (TALE) Questionnaire. They subsequently received three TALE items that represented memory functions and attempted to recall a specific instance of memory recall for each item. Confirmatory factor analyses on the TALE showed that the three functions were replicated in the current sample. However, Japanese participants reported lower levels of all three functions than American participants in a previous study. We also explored whether there was an effect of gender in this Japanese sample. Women reported higher levels of the self-continuity and social-bonding functions than men. Finally, participants recalled more specific instances of memory recall for the TALE items that had received higher ratings on the TALE, suggesting that the findings on the first measure were supported by the second measure. Results are discussed in relation to the functional approach to autobiographical memory in a cross-cultural context.

Objective: We developed a visual aid on pesticide residue to promote better consumer understanding of risk control regarding amounts of pesticide residue in food, and examined the aid's effect on consumer risk perception relative to different design elements.<br>Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted for 80 graduate and undergraduate students to examine how participants would evaluate the risk posed by different levels of pesticide residue when the explanation was given using (1) text only, (2) text and a cumulative normal distribution function graph, or (3) text and an illustration vertically representing the amount of pesticide residue. After being presented with one of these three explanation conditions, participants were asked to use visual analogue scales to evaluate the risk presented in three separate scenarios. Data were subsequently analyzed using chi-square tests, with a correct response (CR) dichotomously defined as one in which the relative magnitude of the evaluated risk was sequentially congruent with the amount of pesticide residue presented.<br>Results: The results revealed differences between the overall expected and obtained CR ratios among explanation types for all questions (p\<0.05). A residual analysis indicated that CRs occurred more consistently than expected for the "text and illustration" condition (59.3-70.4%). Meanwhile, no difference was found between the expected and actual ratio of CRs for the "text only" condition (41.4-55.2%), and the ratio of CRs for the "text and graph" condition was lower than expected for two of the questions (16.7-33.3%).<br>Conclusion: One-dimensional illustration (text and illustration) is easier to understand and thus more useful as a tool to promote consumer risk perception on pesticide residue in food than the two-dimensional cumulative normal distribution function graph.

Abstract Many recent experiments have explored the way people take advice into account. It has been observed that in so doing participants often rely on one of the two following strategies: averaging between the different opinions or choosing one of the opinions, as opposed to using more complex weighting strategies. While several factors that affect strategy choice have been investigated, no attention has been paid to potential cultural variations. Among the many relevant cross-cultural differences, results have show that Easterners tend to favor compromise more than Westerners, a difference that could translate into a greater preference for averaging in Eastern population. In Experiment 1, we confronted Japanese and French participants to two pieces of advice and asked them to form an aggregate answer. In Experiment 2, participants had to aggregate their own opinion and a piece of advice. In neither of the experiments were the Japanese more likely to use averaging than the French. Explanations for this robust absence of difference are suggested. The only difference that emerged was that the Japanese were more likely to choose the advice and less likely to choose their own answer than the French. Different interpretations of this result are discussed, including the possibility that it is an artefact of a theoretically irrelevant difference between the populations under study. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012.

The reminiscence bump is the effect that people recall more personal events from their teenage period than from adjacent lifetime periods. The effect is generally found in studies that divide the results of participants, who were at least 40 years old, into age bins of 10 years. In this study, the temporal distribution of autobiographical memories of Japanese young and middle-aged adults was examined. Because the questionnaire was presented on the internet, many participants could take part (N = 252). By dividing the personal events into smaller age bins and applying a mathematical method that corrects for the increased recall of recent events, a reminiscence bump could be identified in the memories of young adults. The location of the reminiscence bump of young adults was similar to the location of the reminiscence bump of middle-aged adults.

Hindsight bias is a mistaken belief that one could have predicted a given outcome once the outcome is known. Choi and Nisbett (2000) reported that Koreans showed stronger hindsight bias than Americans, and explained the results using the distinction between analytic cognition (Westerners) and holistic cognition (Easterners). The purpose of the present study was to see whether hindsight bias is stronger among Easterners than among Westerners using a probability judgement task, and to test an oexplicit-implicito hypothesis and a orule-dialecticso hypothesis. We predicted that the implicit process is more active among Easterners to generate hindsight bias, and that Easterners are more dialectical thinkers, whereas Westerners are more rule-based thinkers. French, British, Japanese, and Korean participants were asked to make probabilistic judgements in a Good Samaritan scenario (Experiment 1) and in a scenario including conditional probabilistic judgement (Experiment 2). In both Experiments, we presume that the implicit revision of causal models is made just by being given unexpected outcome information, and that explicit revision is made by being asked to point out possible factors for an unexpected outcome. In the results Easterners showed greater hindsight bias generally and it was greater in the Good Samaritan scenario. We conclude that the reason why hindsight bias was lower among Westerners is primarily that they tried to follow a rule to suppress the bias.

Nisbett et al. (Psychol Rev 108:291-310, 2001) claim that East Asians are likely to use holistic thought to solve problems, whereas Westerners use analytic thought more, and discuss the differences in the frame of the individualism/collectivism distinction. The holistic versus analytic distinction has been the greatest point of interest of dual process theories, which imply that human thinking has two sub processes. We apply a revised dual process model that proposes meme-acquired goals in both systems to explain cultural differences in thought. According to this, gene-installed goals are universal across cultures, whereas meme-acquired goals depend upon culture. To introduce a dual process model means that we discuss adaptation both in terms of culture and natural selection. Hence, we propose an interactive view that supports an adaptive relation between mind and culture. © 2007 Fondazione Rosselli.

Shafir (1993) found that people select an alternative which is positive on some dimensions and negative on others more often than one with average dimensions. We applied his methodology to the choice of a person. It is argued that Japanese people prefer a person with an average disposition. But is it that they really prefer this or that they believe that others do? We presented a scenario where two persons wanted to join a party with your group. One was positive on some dimensions and negative on others, whereas the other had an average disposition. One hundred and seven female students were asked to choose one of the two persons, and 113 female students were asked to reject one of the two. They were also asked to infer which person the other members of their group would choose or reject. The results were that our participants chose and rejected the person with positive and negative dimensions in the self-decision condition, whereas they inferred that other members would choose the average person. These imply that self-critical bias may reflect an adaptive strategy as to the selection of persons.

The effects of implicit and explicit associative processes for false recognition were examined by manipulating exposure duration of studied items; 20 ms or 2000 ms. Participants studied lists of words that were high associates to a nonpresented word (critical lure) in either condition. After learning each list, they took a recognition test and remember/know judgements immediately (Experiment 1) or 1 minute later (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, know responses for critical lures were more in the 20 ms than in the 2000 ms conditions, while remember responses for them were more in the 2000 ms condition. Implicit associative processes create familiarity of critical lures, and explicit associative processes create details of false memories. Comparing the results of Experiment 1 with those of Experiment 2, remember responses for critical lures were increased with the prolonged time only in the 20 ms condition. Characteristics of false memory made by implicit associative processes could be changed by prolonged time.

This experiment was designed to examine false memories. Twenty-five participants listened to eight lists of 15words. Each list was composed of associates of a single non-presented word: critical lure. After listening to each list, they took immediate free recall tests or solved math problems. In the recall test, 60% of the critical lures and 55% of list items in the middle positions were recalled. Five minutes after learning, they took a final recognition test. The proportion of false recognition of the critical lures were 92% (falsely recalled) and 74% (not recalled). The results suggest that the participants had difficulty in discriminating what they imaged from what they really heard.

The present study applied the false memory experimental paradigm to the functional independence-interdependence issue of bilinguals. Seventy-four Japanese university students who had learned English for at least seven years participated in a list-learning experiment. Most of them were considered as Japanese-dominant bilinguals. Twelve 15-word-list (180 words) were successively presented. Each list was constructed so that a non-presented word (CNW) would be falsely recognized. Six lists were presented in Japanese and the other six lists were presented in English. Half of the recognition test words were presented in English and the rest in Japanese. These factors were orthogonal. The results showed that, although hit rates were higher when the list language and the test language matched, false-alarm rates of CNWs were higher when the test language was Japanese. These supported the unbalanced, independent storage model, which was proposed in the present study.