Cross-Cultural Differences in Memory

Abstract This chapter reviews the literature on the effects of culture on memory, focusing on the comparison of Easterners and Westerners. The chapter opens with a consideration of the mechanisms through which culture can impact memory and then reviews the cognitive biases and strategies that can shape memory, including memory for objects versus background, memory for perceptual details, source memory, the use of categories in memory, and false memory. Next, the chapter presents evidence for cross-cultural differences in self-relevant, autobiographical, and emotional memory, and it discusses the neuroimaging literature broadly related to differences in self-construals across cultures. Throughout, the chapter adopts a developmental perspective with a focus on older adulthood, and it closes with a consideration of the health relevance of the study of memory across cultures with age.