Department of Psychology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Department of Psychology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2024 Dec;167:105942. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105942. Epub 2024 Nov 12.
Culture is a complex topic involving a comprehensive representation of human institutions, social customs, norms, and lifestyles. Over the past half-century, the methods of cultural studies have improved dramatically in the depth of the research questions posed. However, most contemporary research on cultural issues is conducted from a single perspective, which fails to account for the holistic and extensive nature of culture. The development of culture is influenced by various factors, encompassing not only the humanistic environment but also factors related to the natural environment and socio-economic conditions. Hence, culture involves multiple concepts with associated levels and dimensions, such as genes, molecules, brains, individuals, groups, institutions, societies, and political environments. Therefore, we propose the concept of Culturomics, a cross-level, interdisciplinary science that studies human behavior and cultural representation in high-order space. Under this concept, it is necessary to find new methods to compare multidimensional data from different levels directly. In this paper, we first review past cultural studies, then introduce the concept, research content, and methodology of Culturomics, and discuss future directions for this field.
文化是一个复杂的话题，涉及人类制度、社会习俗、规范和生活方式的全面表现。在过去的半个世纪中，文化研究的方法在提出的研究问题的深度上有了显著的提高。然而，大多数关于文化问题的当代研究都是从单一的角度进行的，无法考虑到文化的整体性和广泛性。文化的发展受到各种因素的影响，不仅包括人文环境，还包括与自然环境和社会经济条件有关的因素。因此，文化涉及到多个概念，以及与之相关的层次和维度，如基因、分子、大脑、个体、群体、机构、社会和政治环境。因此，我们提出了 Culturomics 的概念，这是一种跨层次、跨学科的科学，研究人类行为和高维空间中的文化表现。在这个概念下，有必要找到新的方法来直接比较来自不同层次的多维数据。在本文中，我们首先回顾了过去的文化研究，然后介绍了 Culturomics 的概念、研究内容和方法，并讨论了该领域的未来方向。
