Temporal focus and time spatialization across cultures Callizo-Romero, Carmen Tutnjević, Slavica Pandza, Maja Ouellet, Marc Kranjec, Alexander Ilić, Sladjana Gu, Yan Göksun, Tilbe Chahboun, Sobh Casasanto, Daniel Santiago, Julio Cross-cultural differences Temporal focus Time Space Open practices statement: The materials used for data collection, the raw data collected for the present study, analysis scripts for the results reported here, and supplementary tables and high-quality figures are available at https://osf.io/86mxd. The temporal focus hypothesis (TFH) proposes that whether the past or the future is conceptualized as being located in front depends on temporal focus: the balance of attention paid to the past (tradition) and the future (progress). How general is the TFH, and to what extent can cultures and subcultures be placed on a single line relating time spatialization and temporal focus in spite of stark differences in language, religion, history, and economic development? Data from 10Western (sub)cultural groups (N = 1198,) were used to derive a linear model relating aggregated temporal focus and proportion of future-in-front responses. This model then successfully fitted 10 independently collected (sub)cultural groups in China and Vietnam (N = 899). Further analysis of the whole data set (N = 2,097) showed that the group-level relation arose at the individual level and allowed precise quantification of its influence. Finally, in an effort to apply the model to all relevant published data sets, we included recent data from Britain and South Africa: The former, but not the latter, fitted the model well. Temporal focus is a central factor that shapes how people around the world think of time in spatial terms. 2025-01-17T08:43:52Z 2025-01-17T08:43:52Z 2020-07-29 journal article https://hdl.handle.net/10481/99486 10.3758/s13423-020-01760-5 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Psychonomic Bulletin & Review