Culture Shapes Perception, Even in Illusions

Differences in literacy rates and cultural backgrounds significantly influence cognitive processes and perceptions. Individuals in highly literate societies exhibit a thicker corpus callosum, enhancing the connectivity between brain hemispheres. Conversely, those from less literate societies demonstrate superior facial recognition abilities. Cultural context also alters focus during visual perception; individuals from individualistic societies concentrate on central objects, while those from collectivist cultures take a holistic view of images. This distinction affects judgment capabilities, where individualists excel in absolute measurements and collectivists in relative comparisons. Moreover, cultural experiences influence susceptibility to optical illusions, as demonstrated by studies revealing that people from certain African cultures are less affected by the Muller-Lyer illusion due to their environment's non-linear architectural features. These findings underscore that visual perception and cognition are not universally shared but shaped by cultural experiences.