Saccades Not Cultural: Chinese People Have Faster Eye Responses

Monday, April 7, 2014 - 18:40 in Psychology & Sociology

Rapid eye movements, known as saccades, have been a source of a nature versus nurture debate.  One hypothesis has been that this neurological behaviour is a product of culture in people of Chinese origin. A new study casts doubt on that.  Scientists tested three groups – students from mainland China, British people with Chinese parents and white British people – to see how quickly their eyes reacted to dots appearing in the periphery of their vision. These express saccades – particularly fast responses which begin a tenth of a second after a target appears - were similar in British and mainland Chinese while white British participants made far fewer. read more

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