Sample response

Culture has an effect on our cognitive processes.  Unlike many would expect, the way people use their cognitive processes is not universal. A part of culture is a group's lifestyle and how they interact with the environment.  Psychologists have found that cultures that have to interact more with their natural environment may have better spatial memory.  A study by Kearins (1981) showed that culture has an effect on how young Aboriginal children and Australians differ in spatial memories.

The researchers used a sample of Aboriginal and white Australians. The memory test that the children were given was given outdoors. Kearins placed 20 objects on a board divided into 20 squares. Aboriginal and white Australian children were told to study the board for 30 seconds. Then all the objects were removed from the board and put into a pile. The children were asked to replace the items in their original locations.

The Aboriginal children correctly relocated more objects than did white Australian children. 18% of the white Australian children had one perfect score, but none had two or more perfect scores. 75% of the aboriginal children had at least one perfect score and 40% had at least two perfect scores.

Kearins argued that the Aboriginal culture which developed in the deserts required better visual and spatial memory than the white Australian culture. The need for this skill for survival and the consistent interaction with the environment could have had biological consequences such as the development of the posterior hippocampus.

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