Perception of Visual Stimuli: Specifics of Eye Movements by Representatives of Different Cultures

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Abstract

The present research explores the impact of native language on perception patterns of monolingual students from China, Russia, Mexico, the USA, and bilingual students from India. The research findings, obtained with verbal protocols, demonstrate statistically significant differences in the way representatives of different cultures perceive information and prove the hypothesis according to which the principles of sentence organization in native languages determine the focus of perception and gaze direction in individuals. In particular, with a = 0.01, 0.05 and 0.005 American students are focused on the object and demonstrate linear gaze direction, whereas Russian, Chinese, Mexican, and Indian students are focused on the field and demonstrate chaotic, unstructured gaze direction. Differences in perception patterns explain the co-existence of local and Western approaches to advertisement layout design in national and multicultural markets around the world, which makes them all in all an important issue for consideration in global advertising.

General Information

Keywords: native perception patterns, focus of perception, gaze direction, native language, cognitive styles of North Americans and East Asians, advertisement layout

Journal rubric: Empirical Research

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2018140207

For citation: Shabalina O.I., Contreras M.R., Feng L. Perception of Visual Stimuli: Specifics of Eye Movements by Representatives of Different Cultures. Kul'turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical Psychology, 2018. Vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 66–76. DOI: 10.17759/chp.2018140207. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Olga I. Shabalina, PhD in Philosophy, Associate Professor, Higher School of Economics and Management South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia, e-mail: olgashabalinachina@gmail.com

Marcela R. Contreras, Doctor of Sociology, Professor, Department of Management Research, University of the West, Culiacan, Mexico, e-mail: marcelac25@hotmail.com

Lili Feng, Senior Instructor of Shandong Institute of Business and Technology, Assistant Dean of International Education College, Yantai, China, e-mail: ytllf@126.com

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