Exploring Cultural Differences in Memory for Socially-Relevant Information in Younger and Older Adults

BACKGROUND: Research suggests that epistemic curiosity — the intrinsic desire for knowledge — boosts memory. Theoretical frameworks emphasize the role of relevance in shaping curiosity, particularly among older adults. Culture further shapes perceptions of relevance, with individuals who have interdependent self-construals likely extending their sense of relevance to include their social interests. However, cultural differences remain underexplored, as the current literature primarily focuses on Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (W.E.I.R.D.) populations. This project couples a fact-reveal paradigm with a subsequent memory test to investigate cultural differences in memory for social information in younger and older adults. METHODS: This study will include 100 participants per age group, recruited from Prolific. Half of each age group will be those who have Eastern ethnic roots (East-, South-, or Southeast Asian descent), while the other half will have Western ethnic roots (European descent), all residing in Canada, the U.S., or the U.K. In this online study, participants will view short facts across 5 emotionally neutral topics. On each trial, they will select two of four icons, with two icons representing personally relevant facts and two representing socially relevant facts. Participants will be informed that their selections increase the probability of seeing the associated fact, but that the computer ultimately determines the facts presented. On experimental trials, however, participants will always view one personally relevant fact and one socially relevant fact, regardless of the icons they select. Across the five topics, participants will complete 10 experimental trials and view four facts per topic, including two personal and two social facts. Reinforcement trials will be interspersed throughout the task to strengthen the impression that participants’ choices influence the facts presented. On these trials, the facts displayed will directly correspond to the relevance categories selected. At the end of the study, participants will complete a surprise free-recall test during which they are asked to recall all the information they remember from the facts they learned for each topic. They will also complete a four-alternative forced choice recognition question for each fact they were shown. HYPOTHESES: We predict that those high in interdependent self-construal (common in the East) will show a stronger preference and greater memory accuracy for collectively-relevant facts than those lower in interdependent self-construal. In contrast, individuals higher in independent self-construal are expected to show a stronger preference and greater memory accuracy for personally-relevant facts than those lower in independent self-construal. We further predict that the cultural differences in memory for social information will be maintained or become more pronounced in older adults, given emerging evidence that cultural influences on motivational and goal-directed cognitive processes may accumulate across the lifespan.