Looking at their own face tunes Westerners to their heartbeat; not so for East Asians
This study is the first to look at cultural differences in how external (visual) bodily information interacts with internal bodily signals. Caution is need as the sample size was small, as acknowledged by the researchers. Nonetheless they said their results suggest "exteroceptive and interoceptive self-awareness may be integrated in a different way in individuals from East Asian cultures as compared to those from Western cultures."
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Lara Maister and Manos Tsakiris (2013). My face, my heart: Cultural differences in integrated bodily self-awareness. Cognitive Neuroscience DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2013.808613
--Further reading--
What your Facebook picture says about your cultural background
People who are more aware of their own heart-beat have superior time perception skills
Embodying another person's face makes it easier to recognise their fear
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Christian Jarrett Source Type: blogs
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