Bilingual episodic memory
editEpisodic memory is closely related to semantic memory. Tulving created the two categories as a way to distinguish the specific knowledge from the general knowledge. Episodic memory contains the records of unique events which occurred at particular times.[1] Particularly, autobiographical memories are stored in the episodic memory. The episodic memory holds the events from personally experienced past,[2] exists in subjective time and space, and requires a conscious recollection and a controlled process.[3] Tulving referred to this as "mental time travel",[2] and he "classifies encoding as an event, rather than a process".[4]
It is suggested that bilinguals who have better control of their language processing should perform better in episodic than semantic memory tasks.[3] Bilinguals store the input of language exceedingly well, regardless of their intention to learn.[1] Language forms a surface in the progressive retrieval of features of an event (e.g., on College Ave, at Tim Hortons, on Tuesday...) which triggers further forms within the same language serving to guide retrieval. The events, objects, characters, etc. are all cued by linguistic elements that might serve as a series of triggers.[2] This information is highly integrated; the superiority of action memory is due to better episodic integration for action memory (vs verbal).[3] We remember events based on language cues and these cues further solidify the events.
To test episodic memory researchers usually use items that can be better related to normal everyday life, such as sentences.[3] Language recognition depends somewhat on the retrievability of meaning, but the extent of this dependence is unknown. Retrieval of memories is language-specific, it matches the language spoken at the time. Depending on what language is used, what is recalled may be different because a cue can activate many meanings. The context conditions what meaning is considered first,[2] and context can change over language and cultures.
Bilinguals also tend to be bicultural. Experiences are filtered through culturally shaped scripts. Those that are bilingual and therefore for the most part bicultural have multiple scripts to draw from, or more than one set of narrative constraints. All experiences imply some sort of narrative structure, and narrative traditions are culturally shaped. They direct perception of reality and the encoding of memories. Though they may not directly determine their perception of reality, they determine "how the story is told" which may be different from "how it happened."[2] This shapes memory as stories that are deemed as worthy to be told are further solidified by the retelling and reliving of the experience.
Bilingual autobiographical memory
editAutobiographical memory is a type of episodic memory process which is involved in the recall of one's past life experiences and personal events.[5] Bilinguals have the ability to recall some life experiences in one language and other events using another. When recalling language information it is important that the language is recalled in the same context as it was encoded. This is referred to as Context-dependent memory (Ex. If one who is bilingual were to learn a Spanish song in a Spanish speaking country, and then come back to their native land, they would have difficulty remembering the song. However once they were immersed in a Spanish context again, recall would come with much more ease.[6]) Research has shown that autobiographical memories have increased availability in the language in which they were created. That is to say, memories are richer and more elaborate when recalled in the language that the event has taken place rather than the other language available to them.[6] This can also be referred to as the Encoding specificity principle, where memories appear to be encoded in a language-specific manner.[5] Earlier memory events that occur during youth and are encoded in the first and dominant language are more emotionally charged, have a higher quality of detail, and are greater in number than those memories recalled in the second language.[7] It can also be argued that the more frequently spoken and recalled language will have more associations to multiple circumstances and is therefore more likely to be remembered.[5] Problems can arise if a language that comes to mind 'internally' is not the language that is being spoken externally. For example, when someone recalls an event in Spanish but then reports it in English. This changeover in languages is most likely to do with the content of the memory itself.[6] Evidence has been shown that language-specific recall of information when probed or cued in the matching language, is recalled vividly, and with much more elaboration and detail. It has also been shown that each language a bilingual possesses may represent experiences in somewhat different fashions.[5]
Bilingual working memory
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Working memory is an active part of the memory system that temporarily stores and processes information during mental operations.[8] Highly related are the concepts of attention and executive control.[9] A major function of the working memory system is the retention and processing of verbal information.[9] Baddeley's model of working memory suggests the phonological loop, a slave system that is responsible for the rehearsal of verbal information and has been implicated in language acquisition.[10]
Measures of verbal working memory are predictive of proficiency in a second language[8] and working memory capacity is strongly correlated with first and second language abilities.[9] Despite these correlations, research into the effects of bilingualism on working memory have been largely inconclusive.[8] Bilingual performance on working memory tasks can be affected by language dominance, language proficiency, and the nature of the task, variables which can be difficult to control and assess.[8] However, most recent research suggests that there are no differences between monolingual and bilingual individuals in regards to working memory performance,[8][11] although more research is still required to make any conclusive claims. The evidence suggests that working memory performance has a stronger relationship with general linguistic proficiency than it does with the acquisition of a second language.[8] It has also been observed that there are no significant cross-language differences within bilinguals, providing further support for the hypothesis that working memory is not language specific.[8] Bilingual speakers are, however, more accurate in assessing their metalinguistic reading and working memory abilities compared to monolingual speakers.[12]
Digit span
editResearch has found that there are cross-linguistic differences on a short-term memory test known as the digit-span task. For example, Chinese speakers as compared to English speakers have a greater digit span.[13] An explanation of this observation is that digits in English take longer to say and sub-vocally rehearse in the phonological loop. It has been suggested that because memory for short words is better than for long words, a phenomenon known as the word-length effect, there are cross-linguistic differences on the digit span task.[13] This difference has also been observed in Welsh-English bilinguals, who rated themselves as more proficient in Welsh but had a greater digit span in English because of the shorter digit names.[13] However, research has suggested that familiarity and long-term memory may play an important role and that differences are not strictly the result of subvocal rehearsal rates.[13]
- ^ a b Macleod, C. M. (1976). Bilingual episodic memory: acquisition and forgetting. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 15, 347-364.
- ^ a b c d e Schrauf, R.W., Pavlenko, A. & Dewaele J.-M. (2003) Bilingual episodic memory: An introduction. The International Journal of Bilingualism, 7(3), 221-233.
- ^ a b c d Kormi-Nouri, R., Moniri, S. & Nilson , L.-G. (2003). Episodic and semantic memory in bilingual and monolingual children. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 44, 47–54.
- ^ Murray, D. (1985). Review of elements of episodic memory. Canadian Psychology, 26(3), 235-238.
- ^ a b c d Golato, P. (2007). The handbook of bilingualism. World Englishes, 26, 534–536. doi:10.1111/j.1467-971X.2007.00527.x
- ^ a b c Viorica, M., & Ulric, Neisser (2000.) Language-dependent recall of autobiographical memories. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3, 361-368.
- ^ Schrauf, R. W. (2000), Bilingual autobiographical memory: experimental studies and clinical cases. Culture Psychology, 6(4), 387-417. doi:10.1177/1354067X0064001
- ^ a b c d e f g Gutiérrez-Clellen, V.,F., & Calderón, J. (2004). Verbal working memory in bilingual children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47(4), 863-76. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/232333683
- ^ a b c Namazi, M., & Thordardottir, E. (2010). A working memory, not bilingual advantage, in controlled attention. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 13(5), 597-616. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13670050.2010.488288
- ^ Baddeley, A., Gathercole, S., & Papagno, C. (1998). The phonological loop as a language learning device. Psychological Review, 105(1), 158-173. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/214220164
- ^ Engel De Abreu, P. M. J. (2011). Working memory in multilingual children: Is there a bilingual effect? Memory (Hove.Print),19(5), 529-537. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/901183359
- ^ Ransdell, S., Barbier, M., & Niit, T. (2006). Metacognitions about language skill and working memory among monolingual and bilingual college students: When does multilingualism matter? International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9(6), 728-741. doi:10.2167/beb390.0
- ^ a b c d Thorn, A. S. C., & Gathercole, S. E. (2001). Language differences in verbal short-term memory do not exclusively originate in the process of subvocal rehearsal. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review: A Journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc., 8(2), 357-364. doi:10.3758/BF03196173