cultural neuroscience
an emerging discipline that uses brain-imaging technology to show how environment and beliefs can shape mental function. One study found, for example, that reward circuitry fired in the limbic system of American participants when they viewed silhouettes of humans in dominant poses but did not fire when they viewed silhouettes in submissive poses, whereas the brains of Japanese participants responded in the opposite manner: Their reward circuitry fired in response to submissive, but not dominant, silhouettes. The study suggests that even as people perceive the same stimulus, their brains may activate differently, showing neural responses that reflect their cultural values. See also social neuroscience.