I wonder if the way one's culture navigates affects the way one's brain is wired somehow. For example, some scientists have found that the part of Canadians' brains that process numbers, and the part that process letters, are closer together than in those in the United States. They attribute this to the fact that Canadians' zip codes contain both numbers and letters, whereas zip codes in the United States have only numbers.

Sarah, I wonder if brain wiring can be changed for people who move between countries or cultures? I grew up in the U.S. but live in Canada now as an adult.

Hmm, I don't know. But I bet it's easier for you to memorize zip codes with both letters and numbers than it is for me. Every time I address a letter to a Canadian friend, I have to double-check my work to make sure I haven't substituted a "7" for an "L."

Yeah, it isn't something I have to think about very much any longer. In fact, US zip codes look just a little odd to me now. :)

Yup, basic psychological processes can change a lot based on what culture you're in. There's a lot of work in cultural psychology showing that people in Asian cultures think more holistically, and that people in Western cultures (like America) think more analytically. What happens you look at Asian-Americans? They're in between.

Some related research with bilingual Russians have also found that they think more holistically when they're told to answer in Russian, and they think more analytically when they're told to answer in English.

Since Japan was taken as an example in the video:

- In modern Tokyo addresses can often be found by counting, so as in 7-19-4, 7-19-5 .. (there it is!) 7-19-6
- Also I am of the opinion that the Japanese system is not very good. Easy example is if you ask any random passerby or even shop-owners for addresses that should be nearby (like asking for 7-19-6 when being in 7-18-4) they will usually not be able to tell you where it is. I think street names serve more of a mnemonics function which allow people to at least tell about their immediate neighborhood with ease.
- Big streets actually do have names in Japan (like Yasukuni-doori = Yasukuni-avenue) for example.

In summary: Most Japanese print out a map (or use their cellphones) when they go someplace they don't know yet. I strongly advise to do the same :)