Effect of input language on visual attention

• Project/Area Number: 17K04355
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Educational psychology
• Research Institution: Shimane University
• Principal Investigator: Murase Toshiki 島根大学, 学術研究院人間科学系, 教授 (70210036)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥960,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥2,860,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥660,000)
• Keywords: 注意 / 言語 / 文化 / 背景 / 中心対象 / 注意配分 / 入力言語 / 談話 / 代名詞省略 / 場面認知 / 発達心理学 / 代名詞 / 育児語

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Previous studies have found that Japanese are more likely than North Americans to attend to background objects or context, whereas North Americans are more likely than Japanese to focus on focal objects. This study examined the effects of Japanese linguistic experiences on cultural patterns of attention. The results showed that the participants who had experiences hearing descriptions of the scenes with the background objects mentioned first were less likely to attend to the focal objects even in the scenes without descriptions than those who had experiences hearing descriptions with the focal objects mentioned first. These results suggest that cultural patterns of attention are partly caused by the discourse pattern in the cultures.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本を含む東アジアの人が、北米の人よりも包括的認知をする傾向が強いことは様々な研究で明らかになっているが、そのような文化差の形成要因については明らかになっていない。本研究は、注意配分に焦点を当て、日本語を聞くという経験が、そのような文化差に影響を与えているということを示唆した。世界に対する認知の仕方の文化差を生み出す要因を明らかにすることは、文化間の軋轢の原因を理解し、その解消を図る1つの方法であり、本研究は、そのことに関する1つの知見を提供している。