Return to search

Bilingual memory: A subject trait or a task dimension

The current theoretical formulation of bilingual memory (The Process View of Memory) assumes that all bilinguals are the same and thus attributes cross-language memory transfer effects to the processing components of memory tasks alone. However, the present study found that only early, but not late, bilinguals exhibited significant cross-language transfer effects in the implicit memory word fragment completion task under separate encoding conditions that involved perceptual, conceptual, and integrative processing (i.e., reading, imaging, and sentence processing). Results are taken to suggest that early and late bilinguals adopt different information processing strategies at encoding and retrieval, and question the notion of task processing demands as the only or main determinant of bilingual memory transfer. The present findings help explain the pattern of inconsistent bilingual transfer effects that have emerged in research studies conducted under the Process View of Memory and support the move toward the adoption of a bilingual memory paradigm in which cross-language transfer is explained in terms of both subject and task dimensions.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/289184
Date January 2000
CreatorsHermosillo-Romo, David
ContributorsGlisky, Elizabeth
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic)
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

Page generated in 0.0099 seconds