Human detection of cultural differences in pictogram interpretations

Abstract

Findings on how humans detect cultural differences in cross-cultural pictogram interpretations are reported. An open-answer web survey was conducted in the United States and Japan to collect U.S.-Japan pictogram interpretations. Thirty U.S.-Japan pictogram interpretations were used as stimuli for human cultural difference detection study. Three U.S. subjects and three Japanese subjects participated in the study to assess the degree of cultural differences in the thirty pictogram interpretations given in the questionnaire. Post-questionnaire interviews were conducted to elucidate the reasons behind the human cultural difference detection. The following factors were considered when humans detect cultural differences in cross-cultural pictogram interpretations: (i) similar or dissimilar interpretations in the two countries, (ii) percentage or ranking of the interpretations, (iii) conformity or variance of semantics within one country's interpretations, (iv) presence of proper nouns (e.g. country names), and (v) positive or negative connotation in the interpretations.