Article

Verbal Short-term Memory and Vocabulary Learning in Polyglots

March 1995
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A 48(1):98-107

DOI:10.1080/14640749508401378

Source
PubMed

Authors:

Costanza Papagno

Università degli Studi di Trento

Giuseppe Vallar

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

Polyglot and non-polyglot Italian subjects were given tests assessing verbal (phonological) and visuo-spatial short-term and long-term memory, general intelligence, and vocabulary knowledge in their native language. Polyglots had a superior level of performance in verbal short-term memory tasks (auditory digit span and nonword repetition) and in a paired-associate learning test, which assessed the subjects' ability to acquire new (Russian) words. By contrast, the two groups had comparable performance levels in tasks assessing general intelligence, visuo-spatial short-term memory and learning, and paired-associate learning of Italian words. These findings, which are in line with neuropsychological and developmental evidence, as well as with data from normal subjects, suggest a close relationship between the capacity of phonological memory and the acquisition of foreign languages.

WORKING MEMORY, ASPECTS OF ORAL PRODUCTION AND SELF-REPAIR BEHAVIOUR IN L2

Thesis

Full-text available

Jan 2023

Effrosyni Georgiadou

This study explored the relationship of complex working memory (WM) and phonological short-term memory (PSTM) to aspects of second language (L2) oral production and selfrepair behaviour. The study drew on Levelt’s (1989; 1983) model of speech and perceptual loop theory of monitoring while the concept of WM was based on Baddeley and Hitch’s (1974) multicomponent model of WM. Complex WM refers to the cognitive capacity of simultaneous storage and processing of information while PSTM refers to the capacity of the phonological store. The participants were 84 Emirati female university students learning English in an intensive language program in Abu Dhabi. It was hypothesised that given the limited automaticity of the language building processes in less advanced EFL learners, and thus the dependence of these processes on attentional resources, speakers with higher WM and PSTM scores would perform better in terms of fluency, accuracy, lexical and syntactic complexity in a task with simultaneous online planning. In addition, a relationship of WM with the number and the types of overt self-repairs was anticipated based on the attentional demands of the monitoring processes. Complex WM was measured with a backward digit span test in participants’ L1 and a listening span test in L2. Phonological STM was measured with a simple word-recall test in L2. Statistical analysis of the data showed a relationship of complex WM with disfluency and general grammatical accuracy, while PSTM correlated significantly with speech rate, general and specific measures of grammatical accuracy as well as lexical variety. Complex WM and PSTM were also found to correlate moderately with overall oral performance scores. No statistically significant results emerged between complex WM, PSTM and number of self-repairs, but there was a significant negative correlation between PSTM and phonological error-repairs. Overall, the findings support that WM contributes to variation in L2 oral production but not overt self-repair behaviour.

Promoting the acquisition of vocabulary in a foreign language : evidence for an early benefit of orthography on L2 spoken and written word learning in elementary-school children

Thesis

Dec 2021

Florian Salome

The contribution of orthography has been reported for learning of low-frequency words in native language (L1; Rosenthal & Ehri, 2008) and of pseudowords (Ricketts, Bishop, & Nation, 2009) by using a paired-associate learning paradigm (PAL). These studies cannot fully account for foreign language (L2) word learning, for which both L2 spoken and written forms have to be linked into a pre-existing concept, which in turn, is already connected to phonological and (sometimes) to an orthographic representation in L1. Besides, L2 learning confronts children to different challenges, such as incongruent letter/sound mapping with L1, due to the larger overlap on written than on spoken modality between languages (Marian et al., 2012). Therefore, this doctoral work aimed to explore the benefit of orthography on L2 word learning in children and to determine whether this advantage was modulated by L1 reading skills. We also sought to determine the moderating effect of incongruent letter/sound mappings with L1 on L2 learning. Using a PAL, we conducted three main L2 vocabulary learning studies by contrasting two learning methods, both simultaneous presentation of spoken and written (orthographic method) vs spoken forms only (non-orthographic method). As for learning phase, we made two groups of children (third vs. fifth graders) learn 16 (Study 1a) or 24 German words (Study 1b, Study 2). As for testing, we assessed learning performance with three main experimental tasks: a forced-choice picture recognition task (choose the correct image corresponding to the spoken form), a go/no-go spoken recognition task (discrimination between spoken German words and close phonological distractors) and an orthographic judgment task (select the correct German written form among three written distractors). We reported a consistent benefit of orthography on all three experimental tasks in both groups, supporting that children relied on written information at early steps of L2 learning. Still, contradictory results were reported for phonological learning in fifth graders, given that the benefit of orthography was only retrieved when increasing the learning load (Study 1b). Interestingly, although fifth graders outperformed the third graders on all experimental tasks, we reported a comparable amplitude for the orthographic facilitation in both groups. Measures of L1 reading skills were not (consistently) correlated with L2 vocabulary learning, supporting that a minimal amount of orthographic knowledge was enough to trigger an orthographic facilitation. A moderating effect of incongruent letter/sound mappings with L1 was restricted to L2 phonological learning, with larger discriminative performance for congruent compared to incongruent L2 words immediately after learning (Study 2), but disappeared after a one-week delay, aiming for a differential time-course for the encoding of congruent and incongruent L2 words, an assumption that was discussed in regards to the ontogenetic model of L2 lexical representation (Bordag, Gor, & Opitz, 2021) and to the L2 lexical fuzziness (Kapnoula, 2021). Study 3 was conducted during an Indoc mobility and explored whether the bilingual advantage on L3 vocabulary learning might be extended to children attending a classroom-immersion to L2 and whether this advantage was reinforced by the cross-linguistic similarities conveyed by cognate words. We reported a generalized advantage and cognate facilitation was restricted to the learning of novel L3 written form. In light of these results, this doctoral work reinforced the need for developmental models of bilingualism to consider the lexical and sublexical processing at early steps of L2 acquisition.

Bilingual advantage in L3 vocabulary acquisition: evidence of a generalized learning benefit among classroom-immersion children

Article

Jul 2021
BILING-LANG COGN

The present study explored whether emergent bilingual children showed enhanced abilities to learn L3 vocabulary including written, spoken and conceptual forms compared to monolinguals, and the impact of L2/L3 cross-language similarities on such an effect. To this end, we contrasted the English word learning performance of French fifth-graders attending either a monolingual school program or a classroom-immersion program with German as an L2. Half of the items to be learned were German/English (L2/L3) cognate words while the other half were monolingual English (L3) words. Learning was assessed with a forced-choice recognition task, a go/no-go auditive recognition task and an orthographic judgment task. Results yielded a generalized bilingual advantage, with classroom-immersion children outperforming monolinguals on all tasks, irrespective of cognateness, except for the orthographic task. These findings advocate for a bilingual advantage in children that is globally not driven by the specific language properties of cognates, except for the written modality.

Overlapping and distinct neural networks supporting novel word learning in bilinguals and monolinguals

Article

Jan 2021

This study investigated how bilingual experience alters neural mechanisms supporting novel word learning. We hypothesised that novel words elicit increased semantic activation in the larger bilingual lexicon, potentially stimulating stronger memory integration than in monolinguals. English monolinguals and Spanish–English bilinguals were trained on two sets of written Swahili–English word pairs, one set on each of two consecutive days, and performed a recognition task in the MRI-scanner. Lexical integration was measured through visual primed lexical decision. Surprisingly, no group difference emerged in explicit word memory, and priming occurred only in the monolingual group. This difference in lexical integration may indicate an increased need for slow neocortical interleaving of old and new information in the denser bilingual lexicon. The fMRI data were consistent with increased use of cognitive control networks in monolinguals and of articulatory motor processes in bilinguals, providing further evidence for experience-induced neural changes: monolinguals and bilinguals reached largely comparable behavioural performance levels in novel word learning, but did so by recruiting partially overlapping but non-identical neural systems to acquire novel words.

Snakes and Ladders: Developmental Aspects of Lexical-Conceptual Relationships in the Multilingual Mental Lexicon https://portal.research.lu.se/portal/files/86614717/Lari_Valtteri_Suhonen_THESIS.pdf

Thesis

Jan 2021

Lari-Valtteri Suhonen

One phenomenon causing issues for language learners in the form of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) is translation ambiguity (Eddington & Tokowicz, 2013). Translation ambiguity refers to a situation where word meanings are different in a speaker’s languages. To give an example, Swedish does not lexicalize any difference between TO LEND and TO BORROW, whereas this distinction is made in English. Jiang (2002) proposed that language learners depend on explicit rules to resolve translation ambiguity. That is, based on Jiang’s predictions, a Swedish learner of English would have to consciously remember this difference to use the two English words successfully. Research in this area has focused on speakers with two languages. This thesis extends the research into third language acquisition. In this thesis, four empirical investigations are presented. Studies 1 and 2 focus on the initial state in L2 and L3 learners, respectively, of a Finnish-based pseudolanguage Kontu. Study 3 explored L1 German and L2 English naturalistic learners of L3 Swedish with longitudinal data from a beginner’s level until advanced fluency in the L3. Study 4 is a cross-sectional replication of Study 3. The present thesis represents a unique constellation of studies on CLI in late foreign language learners’ multilingual mental lexicon (MML) in that it presents data covering the very initial state all the way up to a high (≥ CEFR C1) proficiency. Moreover, it presents data from all six potential directions of CLI in L3 acquisition, in both accuracy and processing. Finally, all four studies investigated both forward and reverse CLI in the MML. Taking the results of the four studies together, CLI in the MML appears to be multidirectional. Both forward and reverse CLI was observed. The forward effects align with the predictions of the Parasitic Model (Hall & Ecke, 2003) for the initial stages as well as the RHM-TA overall (Eddington & Tokowicz, 2013). No indications of independence from the previously acquired languages in the L3 lexical representations were found. Also, the results indicate that the effects of translation ambiguity primarily occur in forward CLI at the item level, while the ob-served effects in reverse CLI were more global in nature in line with the predictions of Higby and colleagues (2020). For reverse CLI, there were differences between immersed and non-immersed learners. Furthermore, CLI operates differently in accuracy and processing. That is, a lack of overt effects does not imply the absence of CLI, which corroborates Jiang’s hypothesis. Finally, cognitive control, working memory, and psychotypology were all found to affect the learners’ behavior. The findings highlight the importance of considering the lack of conceptual non-equivalence in modeling multi-lingual lexical processing as well the importance of separating the effects of attrition from the effects of reverse CLI.

The effect of bilingualism on lexical learning and memory across two language modalities: some evidence for a domain-specific, but not general, advantage

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2019

The present study was conducted to replicate bilingual advantages in short-term memory for language-like material and word learning in young adults and extend this research to the sign domain, ultimately with the goal of investigating the domain specificity of bilingual advantages in cognition. Data from 112 monolingual hearing non-signers and 78 bilingual hearing non-signers were analysed for this study. Participants completed a battery of tasks assessing sign and word learning, short-term memory, working memory capacity, intelligence, and a language and demographic questionnaire. Overall, the results of this study suggested a bilingual advantage in memory for speech-like material – no other advantage (or disadvantage) was found. Results are discussed within the context of recent large-scale experimental and meta-analytic studies that have failed to find bilingual advantages in domain-general abilities such as attention control and working memory capacity in young adults.

An Ear And Eye For Language: Mechanisms Underlying Second Language Word Learning

Article

Jan 2021

To become fluent in a second language, learners need to acquire a large vocabulary. However, the cognitive and affective mechanisms that support word learning, particularly among second language learners, are only beginning to be understood. Prior research has focused on intentional learning and small artificial lexicons. In the current study investigating the sources of individual variability in word learning and their underlying mechanisms, participants intentionally and incidentally learned a large vocabulary of Welsh words (i.e., emulating word learning in the wild) and completed a large battery of cognitive and affective measures. The results showed that, for both learning conditions, native language knowledge, auditory/phonological abilities and orthographic sensitivity all made unique contributions to word learning. Importantly, short-term/working memory played a significantly larger role in intentional learning. We discuss these results in the context of the mechanisms that support both native and non-native language learning.

Learning and Processing Multiple Languages: The More the Easier?

Article

Feb 2021
LANG LEARN

Julia Festman

This review scrutinizes the evidence concerning the factors that affect the ease with which multilinguals learn additional languages. First, I focus on language learning experiences that could help multilinguals acquire new languages (e.g., consequences of exposure, use of prior knowledge, biliteracy). I then discuss how multilinguals manage multiple languages and struggle with language control problems. By finally shedding more light onto effects of learning on the brain and the ways it adapts to the higher processing demands when having to manage multiple languages, it becomes clear that the key to understanding learning and processing of multiple languages lies in understanding the adaptive and dynamic nature of the brain. Although the brain is striving for efficient processing, environmental influences, communicative demands and genetic predispositions influence the learning and processing of multiple languages. I therefore suggest five specific effects related to multilingualism which may ease subsequent learning of multiple languages.

A bilingual advantage in memory capacity: Assessing the roles of proficiency, number of languages acquired and age of acquisition

Article

Oct 2020
INT J BILINGUAL

Ezequiel M. Durand-López

Aims and objectives: This study examines whether different types of bilingualism modulate memory capacity differently. More specifically, the study assesses the effects of age of acquisition, number of languages acquired and proficiency in the second language (L2) on phonological short- term memory, visuospatial memory and semantic memory. Design: Memory capacity was measured by means of three tasks: the digit span task (phonological short-term memory), the Corsi block task (visuospatial memory), and the word span task (semantic memory). Participants were divided into five groups based on the number of languages acquired, age of acquisition and proficiency: monolinguals, intermediate L2 learners, advanced L2 learners, simultaneous bilinguals and multilinguals. Data and analysis: Analyses of variance were used to analyze participants’ scores for each of the memory tasks. Findings and conclusions: For the word span task, no significant differences were found among the groups, which supports the notion that semantic memory is language independent. Furthermore, intermediate and advanced L2 learners and multilinguals presented significantly higher phonological short-term memory spans compared to simultaneous bilinguals. Finally, intermediate L2 learners and multilinguals significantly outperformed monolinguals on visuospatial memory spans. Results suggest that L2 acquisition might strengthen both visuospatial and phonological short-term memory, which in turn tend to improve as L2 proficiency increases. Originality: While previous studies have provided evidence of a bilingual advantage in memory capacity, these studies have generally grouped different types of bilinguals together (e.g., L2 leaners and heritage speakers). This study takes a step forward by examining differences in memory capacity across different types of bilinguals and in comparison to their monolingual peers in order to better understand the cognitive effects of bilingualism. Significance and implications: When considering age of acquisition, number of languages acquired and proficiency as grouping factors, different effects of bilingualism on memory capacity can be observed. Future studies on this matter should include bilingual participants that are comparable with regard to the aforementioned variables.

A bilingual advantage in memory capacity: Assessing the roles of proficiency, number of languages acquired and age of acquisition

Preprint

Aug 2020

Ezequiel M. Durand-López

Preprint available at https://psyarxiv.com/jfq6s This study examines whether different types of bilingualism modulate memory capacity differently. More specifically, the study assesses the effects of age of acquisition, number of languages acquired and proficiency in the L2 on phonological short-term memory, visuospatial memory and semantic memory. Design Memory capacity was measured by means of three tasks: digit span task (phonological short-term memory), Corsi block task (visuospatial memory) and word span task (semantic memory). Participants were divided into five groups based on the number of languages acquired, age of acquisition and proficiency: monolinguals, intermediate L2 learners, advanced L2 learners, simultaneous bilinguals and multilinguals. Data/analysis Analyses of variance were used to analyze participants’ scores for each of the memory tasks. Findings/Conclusions For the word span task, no significant differences were found among the groups, which supports the notion that semantic memory is language independent. Furthermore, intermediate and advanced L2 learners and multilinguals presented significantly higher phonological short-term memory spans compared to simultaneous bilinguals. Finally, intermediate L2 learners and multilinguals significantly outperformed monolinguals on visuospatial memory spans. Results suggest that L2 acquisition might strengthen both visuospatial and phonological short-term memory, which in turn tend to improve as L2 proficiency increases. Originality While previous studies have provided evidence of a bilingual advantage on memory capacity, these studies have generally grouped different types of bilinguals together (e.g., L2 leaners and heritage speakers). This study takes a step forward by examining differences on memory capacity across different types of bilinguals and in comparison to their monolingual peers in order to better understand the cognitive effects of bilingualism. Significance/Implications When considering age of acquisition, number of languages acquired and proficiency as grouping factors, different effects of bilingualism on memory capacity can be observed. Future studies on this matter should include bilingual participants that are comparable with regard to the aforementioned variables.

Functional characterization of the language network of polyglots and hyperpolyglots with precision fMRI

Preprint

Full-text available

Jan 2023

A small fraction of the world population master five or more languages. How do such polyglots represent and process their different languages, and more generally, what can this unique population tell us about the language system? We identified the language network in each of 25 polyglots (including 16 hyperpolyglots with knowledge of 10+ languages) and examined its response to the native language, languages of varying proficiency, and unfamiliar languages. We found that all languages elicit a response reliably above the perceptually matched control condition in all areas of the language network. The response magnitude across languages generally scaled with comprehension level: aside from the native language, which elicited a relatively low response, languages that were more comprehensible to the participant elicited stronger responses. This pattern held for both familiar (studied) languages, and unfamiliar languages (cognate languages of high-proficiency languages elicited a stronger response than non-cognate languages). We also replicated a prior finding of weaker responses during native language processing in polyglots compared to non-polyglots. These results contribute to our understanding of how multiple languages co-exist within a single brain and provide new evidence that the language-selective network responds more strongly to stimuli from which more linguistic meaning can be extracted.

Cognitive Factors in Nonnative Phonetic Learning: Impacts of Working Memory and Selective Attention on the Benefits and Costs of Talker Variability

Preprint

Full-text available

Nov 2022

Talker variability has been reported to facilitate generalization and retention of speech learning, but is also shown to place demands on cognitive resources. Our recent study provided evidence that phonetically-irrelevant acoustic variability in single-talker (ST) speech is sufficient to induce equivalent amounts of learning to the use of multiple-talker (MT) training. This study is a follow-up contrasting MT versus ST training with varying degrees of temporal exaggeration to examine how cognitive measures of individual learners may influence the role of input variability in immediate learning and long-term retention. Native Chinese-speaking adults were trained on the English /i/-/ɪ/ contrast. We assessed the trainees' working memory and selective attention before training. Trained participants showed retention of more native-like cue weighting in both perception and production regardless of talker variability condition. The ST training group showed long-term benefit in word identification, whereas the MT training group did not retain the improvement. The results demonstrate the role of phonetically-irrelevant variability in robust speech learning and modulatory functions of nonlinguistic working memory and selective attention, highlighting the necessity to consider the interaction between input characteristics, task difficulty, and individual differences in cognitive abilities in assessing learning outcomes.

The Melody of Speech: What the Melodic Perception of Speech Reveals about Language Performance and Musical Abilities

Article

Aug 2021

Research has shown that melody not only plays a crucial role in music but also in language acquisition processes. Evidence has been provided that melody helps in retrieving, remembering, and memorizing new language material, while relatively little is known about whether individuals who perceive speech as more melodic than others also benefit in the acquisition of oral languages. In this investigation, we wanted to show which impact the subjective melodic perception of speech has on the pronunciation of unfamiliar foreign languages. We tested 86 participants for how melodic they perceived five unfamiliar languages, for their ability to repeat and pronounce the respective five languages, for their musical abilities, and for their short-term memory (STM). The results revealed that 59 percent of the variance in the language pronunciation tasks could be explained by five predictors: the number of foreign languages spoken, short-term memory capacity, tonal aptitude, melodic singing ability, and how melodic the languages appeared to the participants. Group comparisons showed that individuals who perceived languages as more melodic performed significantly better in all language tasks than those who did not. However, even though we expected musical measures to be related to the melodic perception of foreign languages, we could only detect some correlations to rhythmical and tonal musical aptitude. Overall, the findings of this investigation add a new dimension to language research, which shows that individuals who perceive natural languages to be more melodic than others also retrieve and pronounce utterances

Vocabulary learning in a novel language: is language similarity helpful in bilingual children?

Article

May 2022

Bilinguals are more successful than monolinguals in novel language learning due to the transfer of prior learning strategies and experiences with two languages. The extent of such transfer may depend on the similarity between previously acquired languages and a novel language. This hypothesis was tested in relation to vocabulary learning in elementary school children. The sample included 10 Hebrew-Yiddish speakers, 10 Hebrew-English speakers, and 10 monolingual Hebrew speakers who learned ancient Aramaic as part of religious studies. Hebrew-Yiddish speakers, for whom both languages were similar to Aramaic, recalled more Aramaic words than both monolingual speakers and Hebrew-English speakers, for whom only one language was similar to Aramaic. There was no statistically significant difference between Hebrew-English and monolingual speakers. The advantage in the Hebrew-Yiddish group remained significant even after controlling for background variables, such as years of maternal education, phonological short-term memory, and vocabulary size in Hebrew. These findings provide evidence that previously acquired languages may facilitate vocabulary learning in a novel language if they are similar to the novel language.

Individual Differences in Singing Behavior during Childhood Predicts Language Performance during Adulthood

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2022

Research on singing and language abilities has gained considerable interest in the past decade. While several studies about singing ability and language capacity have been published, investigations on individual differences in singing behavior during childhood and its relationship to language capacity in adulthood have largely been neglected. We wanted to focus our study on whether individuals who had sung more often during childhood than their peers were also better in language and music capacity during adulthood. We used questionnaires to assess singing behavior of adults during childhood and tested them for their singing ability, their music perception skills, and their ability to perceive and pronounce unfamiliar languages. The results have revealed that the more often individuals had sung during childhood, the better their singing ability and language pronunciation skills were, while the amount of childhood singing was less predictive on music and language perception skills. We suggest that the amount of singing during childhood seems to influence the ability to sing and the ability to acquire foreign language pronunciation later in adulthood.

Influences of Bilingualism and Developmental Language Disorder on How Children Learn and Process Words

Article

Mar 2022
DEV PSYCHOL

Previous studies found that bilingual children and adults with typical language development (TLD) perform better than monolinguals in novel word learning, but show lower scores on lexical retrieval tasks (e.g., naming known words). Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) lack in their abilities in both tasks compared with children with TLD. The current study tested the interplay between bilingualism and language disorder during novel word learning and lexical retrieval. Preschoolers (N = 101; 50 boys and 51 girls; mothers' mean years of education = 16.35) in four groups (Hebrew monolinguals or Russian-Hebrew bilinguals with DLD or TLD) learned 12 novel real words (6 with a familiar referent and 6 with a novel referent) and performed a lexical retrieval task. Children exhibited significant learning with no effect of bilingualism, but a negative effect of language disorder. Thus, children with DLD performed worse than children with TLD, and this ability was not affected by bilingualism. In lexical retrieval, DLD groups scored lower than TLD groups, and critically also bilinguals scored lower than monolinguals. This differential effect of bilingualism in the two tasks suggests that bilingualism does not impede language learning mechanisms even among children with DLD. Instead, the findings suggest that lower performance in the lexical retrieval task is due to decreased frequency of exposure. By exploring both word learning and lexical retrieval, the study highlights the differential mechanisms at play in the effects of bilingualism and language disorder on the developing lexicon. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

"La relatividad lingüística: ¿se puede pensar en español sin vivir en un contexto de habla hispana?"

Chapter

Oct 2021

"Linguistic relativity: can we think in Spanish living in a non-Hispanic environment?" The language we use to communicate with others has tight links with the way we think and how we perceive the world around us. Hence learning to think in another language involves cognitive changes that go beyond the linguistic use and command of the language. We not only learn new ways of communication, but also new ways to describe and perceive the world. This link between language and thought is dinamic and has its origins in the plasticity of the cerebral system itself; it is thus malleable during the lifespan. So much so that when living for an extended period of time in a foreign country we can observe fundamental changes in the way we process and perceive events, objects, colours, or even emotions. In this chapter, we will review the latest research findings in relation to the changes that occur in our way of thinking when we learn a new language, paying particular attention to whether those changes can also be observed when the language has been learnt in an educational context. Finally, we suggest ways in which teachers can incorporate in the classroom the use of different tools used in psycholinguistic research with the objective to optimize learning to think in Spanish when the language is acquired in a non-Hispanic country. "La relatividad lingüística: ¿se puede pensar en español sin vivir en un contexto de habla hispana?" La lengua que utilizamos para comunicarnos está estrechamente relacionada con la manera en la que pensamos y cómo percibimos nuestro entorno. Aprender a pensar en una nueva lengua por lo tanto conlleva cambios cognitivos que van más allá del uso y dominio puramente lingüístico de la lengua. No sólo aprendemos nuevas formas de comunicación, sino que también adquirimos nuevas maneras de describir y percibir el mundo que nos rodea. Esta relación entre lenguaje y pensamiento es dinámica y tiene como origen la misma plasticidad del sistema cerebral y por lo tanto es moldeable a lo largo de nuestras vidas. Tanto es así que al vivir largos periodos de tiempo en un país extranjero, se observan cambios estructurales en la manera que procesamos y percibimos eventos, objetos, colores, o incluso emociones. En este capítulo revisaremos los últimos hallazgos en relación a los cambios que ocurren en nuestra manera de pensar cuando aprendemos una nueva lengua, haciendo especial hincapié en si tales cambios también se observan cuando se aprende una nueva lengua en contextos educativos. Finalmente, proponemos incorporar en las aulas diferentes herramientas utilizadas en el campo de la psicolingüística con el objetivo de optimizar el aprender a pensar en español cuando se vive en un contexto de habla no hispana.

Beyond words: An analysis of skills underlying reading and vocabulary acquisition in three foreign languages

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2021

To capture the complexity of foreign language literacy acquisition, we investigated cognitive skills underlying word reading, sentence reading, word vocabulary and sentence vocabulary in three different foreign languages. Students fluent in Dutch simultaneously acquired three foreign languages that differed in orthographic transparency and writing system (Spanish, French, Chinese). Cognitive skills at the start of literacy acquisition (Grade 7) were longitudinally related to literacy attainment in each of the foreign languages after two years of instruction (end of Grade 8). Structural equation regression models indicated that three areas (word and sentence vocabulary, and sentence reading) related most strongly to verbal and nonverbal intelligence, indicating the involvement of academic skills. For word reading the influence of cognitive skills appeared language specific. Across languages, native reading skills seemed to be employed to varying degrees of efficiency to decipher foreign words, more so for foreign languages with a smaller orthographic distance from the native language.

Contribution of working memory to gesture production in toddlers

Article

Oct 2021
COGNITIVE DEV

Starting as early as 10 months of age, gesturing is present in the communicative repertoire of children, and later, around the age of two, it is integrated with speech, yielding multimodal utterances. However, children's propensity to gesture varies, and the mechanisms underlying these individual differences remain unknown. The present study tests whether gesture production in the presence of speech (bimodal gestures) or in the absence of speech (unimodal gestures) is predicted by working memory and articulation performance associated with verbal processing. Children aged 22–46 months were presented with a gesture elicitation task in which they needed to correct the actions of a puppet using everyday objects in an unconventional way. Working memory was measured by the Imitation Sorting Task (IST) and articulation performance was indexed by the Non-Word Repetition Task (NWR). It was revealed that any increase in working memory capacity was linked to a higher incidence rate of gesturing in toddlers and working memory was differentially associated with the production of unimodal and bimodal gestures. When gestures were produced without speech, they primarily relied on attentional processes as indicated by working memory capacity. Conversely, when gestures were produced with speech, it was the articulation performance supporting speech processing that predicted the number of bimodal gestures. Overall, unimodal and bimodal gestures seem to have different working memory demands.

Sprachliche Fähigkeiten von Kindern, Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen mit Down-Syndrom. Untersuchungen zu Wortschatz und Grammatik.

Thesis

Jan 2020

Bernadette Witecy

Ziel dieser kumulativen Dissertation war es, zu einem umfassenderen Verständnis des sprachlichen Phänotyps von Menschen mit Down-Syndrom über die Lebensspanne hinweg beizutragen. Dazu wurden in vier Teilstudien die sprachlichen Fähigkeiten von Kindern und Jugendlichen sowie von Erwachsenen mit diesem Syndrom betrachtet. Dies erfolgte sowohl auf Gruppen- als auch auf individueller Ebene. Im Fokus standen die Fragen, welchen sprachlichen Entwicklungsstand Menschen mit Down-Syndrom erreichen, ob sich die sprachlichen Fähigkeiten im Erwachsenenalter weiterentwickeln oder auf andere Weise verändern und welche Faktoren die Sprachentwicklung in dieser Personengruppe beeinflussen. Hierbei wurde insbesondere die Rolle der nonverbalen Kognition und des verbalen Kurzzeitgedächtnisses beleuchtet. Darüber hinaus wurden qualitative Analysen durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse sollten die Erkenntnisse über die genaue Ausprägung der sprachlichen Schwierigkeiten von Personen mit Down-Syndrom erweitern und dadurch Ansatzpunkte für eine zielgerichtete Förderung und Unterstützung liefern. Der vorliegende Manteltext gibt zunächst einen Überblick über zentrale Aspekte der sprachlichen Entwicklung von Menschen mit Down-Syndrom. Auf dieser Basis werden Forschungslücken identifiziert und die Forschungsfragen formuliert. Im Anschluss an die Darstellung der Methodik und eine kurze Zusammenfassung der durchgeführten Teilstudien werden die erzielten Ergebnisse im Hinblick auf die einzelnen Fragestellungen diskutiert. Abschließend werden Implikationen für die Praxis benannt und Anregungen für zukünftige Forschung gegeben. ---- The aim of this paper-based dissertation was to broaden the understanding of the language phenotype of individuals with Down syndrome over the lifespan. To this end the language abilities of children and adolescents as well as adults with this syndrome were investigated in four studies, both at group and at individual level. The focus was on which developmental level can be attained by individuals with Down syndrome, whether the language abilities continue to improve in adulthood or change in other ways, and which factors influence the language development in this population. Regarding the latter, in particular the role of nonverbal cognition and verbal short-term memory was examined. In addition, qualitative analyses were carried out to gain more information on the exact nature of the language difficulties of individuals with Down syndrome and thus to provide starting points for targeted support and intervention. The present thesis first gives an overview of central aspects of the language development of individuals with Down syndrome. Based on this, research gaps are identified and the research questions formulated. After presenting the method and short summaries of the individual studies the obtained results are discussed with regard to the formulated research questions. In closing, practical and research implications are addressed.

Factors influencing lexical transfer in third language acquisition

Article

Jan 2020

Nicolas Najjar

The present paper examines the factors influencing lexical transfer in third language acquisition (TLA) by examining studies devoted to lexical transfer from L1 and L2 into L3 that were mainly conducted in Europe. There are several factors that have influence on lexical transfer: linguistic (such as typology), contextual (such as naturalistic setting vs. formal setting), psycho-linguistic (such as psychotypology and the learners’ awareness of cognates), individual (such as learners’ age) and other factors (such as L2/L3 proficiency level). The results of the survey indicate that negative lexical transfer from both L1 and L2 to L3 occurs (a) in naturalistic contexts, (b) when languages are typologically similar, (c) when students perceive these languages as similar, and (d) when L2 proficiency level is high and L3 proficiency level low. In contrast, positive lexical transfer from L2 to L3 occurs (a) in formal settings, (b) when students perceive these languages as similar, (c) when learners’ awareness of true cognates is high, and (d) when both L2 and L3 proficiency level are high. Additionally, the learners’ age was found to potentially predict the relative weight of lexical transfer in TLA in the following manner: negative lexical transfer from L1 and L2 to L3 may increase with age. Finally, it was found that when L1, L2, and L3 are equally proximate, it is the L1 that has the primary influence on lexical transfer in TLA.

Verbal Working Memory but Not Attention Is Related to Language Proficiency: Evidence from Multilingual Speakers

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2020
PSYCHOL BELG

Numerous studies have shown a consistent relationship between verbal working memory (WM) and native-language as well as non-native language learning abilities. However, the role of attentional abilities has been rarely explored, although these abilities have been shown to be associated both with verbal working memory and oral language proficiency. This study investigated the association between WM, attention and language proficiency in young adults raised with three different languages (Luxembourgish, German and French). Auditory-verbal WM abilities were assessed via an immediate serial recall task. Attentional abilities were assessed via auditory-verbal and visuo-spatial attentional tasks. Using a Bayesian correlational approach, we observed robust evidence for an association between auditory-verbal WM abilities and non-native language proficiency. At the same time, we observed no reliable evidence in favor of an association between language proficiency and auditory-verbal/visuo-spatial attentional measures. These results suggest that auditory-verbal WM and non-native language proficiency are strongly linked in young multilingual adults, irrespective of auditory-verbal or visuo-spatial attentional abilities.

Effects of multilingualism and executive functioning on fast mapping and retention in adults

Preprint

Aug 2020

Disambiguation, a fast-mapping process based on the process-of-elimination, is a mechanism found in children and adults when assigning a new label to an unseen object in ambiguous word learning situations. Previous research found that multilingualism delayed the onset of when disambiguation emerged in young children. In this looking-while-listening word-learning study, we studied (1) how multilingual experience may impact on the accuracy and processing times of disambiguation using English proficiency, age of acquisition of English, current English exposure, number of languages, and English as the first language as modulating back-ground variables. Then we assessed (2) whether multilinguals were able to retain fast-mapped word-object links from the disambiguation phase in three different retention conditions, and (3) how multilingualism modulated retention. During all those steps, we controlled for working memory and executive function abilities, and how those impacted on disambiguation and retention. Results indicated that multilinguals’ performance and processing speed in disambiguation and retention trials were modulated by their linguistic background variables, whereby English proficiency played the most significant role. We found a speed-accuracy trade-off which was modulated by English language proficiency and working memory ability in two of three retention conditions. That is to say that people scoring higher on proficiency or working memory tasks performed faster during the process-of-elimination, but with a decrease in terms of accuracy.

A Bilingual Advantage on Word Learning-Factors Influence on Lexical Development of Bilinguals

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2020
Am J Appl Sci

An ear for language: Sensitivity to fast amplitude rise times predicts novel vocabulary learning

Article

Jun 2020

This study tested whether individual sensitivity to an auditory perceptual cue called amplitude rise time (ART) facilitates novel word learning. Forty adult native speakers of Polish performed a perceptual task testing their sensitivity to ART, learned associations between nonwords and pictures of common objects, and were subsequently tested on their knowledge with a picture recognition (PR) task. In the PR task participants heard each nonword, followed either by a congruent or incongruent picture, and had to assess if the picture matched the nonword. Word learning efficiency was measured by accuracy and reaction time on the PR task and modulation of the N300 ERP. As predicted, participants with greater sensitivity to ART showed better performance in PR suggesting that auditory sensitivity indeed facilitates learning of novel words. Contrary to expectations, the N300 was not modulated by sensitivity to ART suggesting that the behavioral and ERP measures reflect different underlying processes.

The articulatory determinants of verbal sequence learning

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2020

Two experiments (N = 154 in total) using the Hebb repetition effect—the enhancement of serial recall performance for a repeated sequence in amongst otherwise non-repeated sequences—reveal a key role for active articulatory-planning processes in verbal sequence learning, contrary to a prominent, phonological-store based, model (Burgess & Hitch, 2006). First, Hebb sequence learning was attenuated when articulatory planning of the to-be-remembered sequence was restricted by articulatory suppression. This was less the case with auditory sequences, however, suggesting that passive perceptual organization processes operating independently of articulation also contribute to the learning of sequences presented auditorily. Second, sequence learning was enhanced for phonologically similar compared to dissimilar items when that learning was particularly reliant on articulatory planning (i.e., with visual sequences). That this enhanced learning was eliminated when articulatory planning was restricted also points to an articulatory basis for this ‘phonological’ similarity effect. Third, an inconsistent temporal grouping of items across instances of the repeating sequence also abolished learning but only when that grouping—based on independent evidence from output response-times during serial recall—was instantiated within an articulatory plan. These results are the first to suggest that verbal sequence learning, and not only verbal serial short-term memory performance, may be explicable by recourse to general-purpose articulatory and perceptual processes.

Verbal working memory as a predictor of explicit and implicit knowledge of English passive voice

Article

Oct 2019

While there is copious evidence concerning the effectiveness of different instructional options in teaching grammar (e.g., Nassaji, 2017 ; Pawlak, 2017 ), less is known about the extent to which the contribution of pedagogical intervention is mediated by individual factors. The same can be said about the product of instructed but also uninstructed second language acquisition, that is the knowledge of target language grammar. The paper attempts to shed light on one such variable, that is working memory, which has recently been an object of intensive empirical inquiry (e.g., Li, 2017 ; Wen, Biedroń, & Skehan, 2016 ). It reports the results of a study that investigated the role of verbal working memory in the development of explicit and implicit knowledge of the English passive voice. Participants were 156 Polish university students enrolled in a three-year BA program in English. The data on verbal working memory were collected by means of the Polish Listening Span Test (PLSPAN), developed by Zychowicz, Biedroń and Pawlak (2017) . Explicit knowledge was tapped by means of an untimed grammatically judgment test, which focused on reception, and a traditional grammar test, which targeted production. Implicit knowledge was tapped through a timed grammaticality judgment test for reception and a focused communication task ( Ellis, 2003 ) for production. Correlational analysis demonstrated that verbal working memory was a weak predictor of explicit productive and receptive knowledge but not implicit knowledge.

A REVIEW OF LABORATORY STUDIES OF ADULT SECOND LANGUAGE VOCABULARY TRAINING

Article

Oct 2019

This review examines and integrates studies of second language (L2) vocabulary instruction with adult learners in a laboratory setting, using a framework provided by a modified version of the Revised Hierarchical Model (Kroll & Stewart, 1994), the Revised Hierarchical Model-Repetition Elaboration Retrieval. By examining how various training methods promote or fail to promote the development of high-quality orthographic, phonological, and meaning representations, and strong connections between these representations, we reconceptualize the current body of knowledge, and highlight gaps in the existing literature. We review evidence that training methods that only promote L1 to L2 form connections (e.g., massed repetition) are generally ineffective, but can become highly effective when paired with methods that also strengthen L2 form-meaning connections (e.g., spaced repetition training with retrieval practice or semantic elaboration requiring user-generated responses). We discuss the implications of these findings for researchers and educators interested in improving L2 vocabulary learning outcomes.

Polish Nonword Span (PNWSPAN): A new tool for measuring phonological loop capacity

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2018

The grammatical class effect is separable from the concreteness effect in language learning

Article

Jun 2019

Typically concrete words are learned better than abstract words (Kaushanskaya & Rechtzigel, 2012), and nouns are learned better than verbs (Kauschke & Stenneken, 2008). However, most studies on concreteness have not manipulated grammatical class (and vice versa), leaving the relationship between the two unclear. Therefore, in two experiments we examined the effects of grammatical class and concreteness simultaneously in foreign language vocabulary learning. In Experiment 1, English speakers learned ‘foreign language’ words (English pseudowords) mapped to concrete and abstract nouns and verbs. In Experiment 2, English speakers learned German words with the same procedure. Overall, the typical advantages for concrete words and nouns were observed. Hierarchical regression analyses provided evidence that the grammatical class effect is separable from the concreteness effect. This result challenges a strict concreteness-based source of noun/verb differences. The results also suggest that the influences of concreteness and grammatical class may vary across language measures and tasks.

Monolingual and Bilingual Word Recognition and Word Learning in Background Noise

Article

May 2019
LANG SPEECH

The question of whether bilingualism leads to advantages or disadvantages in linguistic abilities has been debated for many years. It is unclear whether growing up with one versus two languages is related to variations in the ability to process speech in the presence of background noise. We present findings from a word recognition and a word learning task with monolingual and bilingual adults. Bilinguals appear to be less accurate than monolinguals at identifying familiar words in the presence of white noise. However, the bilingual “disadvantage” identified during word recognition is not present when listeners were asked to acquire novel word-object relations that were trained either in noise or in quiet. This work suggests that linguistic experience and the demands associated with the type of task both play a role in the ability for listeners to process speech in noise.

The Impact of L2 Learning on Working Memory: A Case of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2018
JALLR

The impact, effect and agreement of working memory on second language learning has received some attention in L2 research. However, there seems to be a massive gap regarding the reverse, i.e. the effect of second language learning on working memory. Cognitive advantages of learning a second language are presumed to derive from the requirement to continuously control the activation of lexical representations from the non-target language in a way that they have no interference with the ongoing language processing (Green, 1998). The present study draws on one of the most prominent models for working memory put forward by Baddeley and Hitch (1974). This study attempts to assess the impact of learning a second language on the aforementioned components of the participants' short term memory. For the sake of the study, 48 participants (aged14-16 at the beginning of the study) were selected out of which 24 had just started attending English language classes in Zabansara Language Institute and the other half had been studying English in the same institute for 3 years in Astaneh, Guilan. The instruments employed were the Non-word test, the digit span test, the questionnaire based on Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale; WAIS (1930) and Corsi Block Tapping-Test (1970) to assess the short term memory of the participants with different language learning backgrounds. The statistical analyses of the results provide evidence in support of the effect of background of learning English as a second language on the improvement of short term memory.

Les relations entre capacités lexicales et mémoire phonologique à court terme chez les personnes atteintes du syndrome de Down. Mots clés : Syndrome de Down -Mémoire phonogique à court terme -Connaissances lexicales

Chapter

Full-text available

Jan 2002

Annick Comblain

Certaines études neuropsychologiques de patients cérébro-lésés suggèrent que la mémoire de travail contribue à l'apprentissage à long terme de structures phonologiques non-familières. Les données disponibles sur des enfants normaux indiquent que la mémoire phonologique à court terme influence l'acquisition de nouveaux mots de vocabulaire. Par ailleurs, on sait que les personnes trisomiques 21 ont une mémoire phonologique à court terme déficiente ainsi que des connaissances lexicales limitées. Dès lors, étudier le lien entre ces deux variables dans la trisomie 21 s'imposait. Nos résultats indiquent que chez ces sujets, tout comme chez les enfants normaux, le niveau de développement lexical semble étroitement lié à la mémoire phonologique à court terme et plus particulièrement aux capacités de répétition de non-mots. Some neuropsychological studies of brain damaged patients with memory deficits suggest that phonological short-term memory directly contribute to the long-term learning of non-familiar phonological structures. Studies of typical young children lead to the same conclusion. The phonological short-term memory abilities directly influence the way young children acquired new vocabulary items. As Down's syndrome people generally show an impairment of phonological short-term memory and a lack in lexical knowledge, we decided to study the relationship between both variables in this population. Our results indicate that in Down's syndrome subjects, as in typically developing children, the subjects' vocabulary level seems to be linked to the phonological short-term memory abilities and more specially to nonword repetition. 3.

ROLA PAMIĘCI ROBOCZEJ W NAUCE JĘZYKA OBCEGO I WIELOJĘZYCZNOŚCI

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2018

Adriana Biedroń

Working memory is now one of the most frequently studied individual differences in various fields of science, including cognitive and developmental psychology, neuroscience, and second language acquisition. It affects cognitive functioning, including all aspects of learning a foreign language, and its deficits severely impair learning outcomes. This article focuses on practical application of this knowledge (see Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014) in a language classroom. To this end, we first present a definition of a working memory and its components altogether with their relevance for various areas of foreign language learning. This is followed by a review of research on linguistically gifted individuals, polyglots, and savants as well as bilinguals from the perspective of memory aptitude. The last section offers some pedagogical implications, such as aptitude-treatment interaction and working memory training. The article ends with suggestions for further research in this area.

Part II - Models and Measures

Article

Jul 2022

4 - The Phonological Loop as a “Language Learning Device”

Article

Jul 2022

The phonological component of the working memory system is specialized in maintaining a sequence of verbal items (digits, letters, words, pseudowords) over a very short period of time. Therefore, a central issue has been why we are provided with such ability, and what is its functional role. A series of studies on healthy people, on children learning their mother tongue, on children and young adults learning a second language and, crucially, on neuropsychological patients with a selective deficit of auditory-verbal short-term memory has clearly shown that a fundamental function is to maintain a new phonological representation for a period of time long enough to build permanent phonological representations. This is exactly what happens when we learn a new language. In this chapter I will report converging evidence involving different languages showing how this important result has been obtained.

Word reading in monolingual and bilingual children with developmental language disorder

Article

Aug 2022
LEARN INDIVID DIFFER

Many children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are reported to have word reading difficulties. However, previous research has focused mostly on monolingual children. The present study used two existing datasets to assess word reading outcomes of bilingual children with DLD. In Study 1, we compared word reading outcomes of monolingual and bilingual children with and without DLD (n = 93 monolingual DLD; n = 33 bilingual DLD, n = 42 monolingual TD; n = 74 bilingual TD). In Study 2, we compared those of monolingual (n = 91) and bilingual children with DLD (n = 51) on the basis of school record data. Findings from both studies show mean poor word reading outcomes and a high incidence of poor readers in the groups of children with DLD. Despite lower oral language outcomes of bilingual children in the mainstream language, reading outcomes of monolingual and bilingual children (with/without DLD) did not differ or outcomes were even better for the bilingual children. Overall, these findings indicate that DLD is a risk factor for word reading difficulties, while bilingualism is not.

Virtual reality-based targeted cognitive training program for Chinese older adults: A feasibility study

Article

Sep 2022
GERIATR NURS

Objective To investigate the acceptance and tolerance of a targeted cognitive training program with virtual reality (VR) in Chinese older adults. Methods We developed a VR-based program consisting of five games for cognitive training. Fourteen older adults voluntarily participated in the VR training program from January 1 to 22, 2022. The tolerance of the participants and acceptance of the video-based training were assessed after training. Results Of the participants, 8 (57.1%) had normal cognitive function, and 6 (42.9%) had cognitive impairment. The participants tolerated the program well with a total SSQ (simulated sickness questionnaire) score of 10.42±12.97. Regarding acceptance, 97.6% of subjects found VR equipment to be easy to use, 76.2% said it was a positive experience, and 57.1% thought VR devices were attractive. Conclusion This study shows that VR-based cognitive training was well tolerated by Chinese older adults, without major or severe adverse events.

Multilingual pedagogies in first versus foreign language contexts: A cross-country study of language teachers

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2022
Int Rev Appl Ling

Raees Calafato

This article reports on a study that used the online MULTITEACH questionnaire to examine the relationship between the multilingual pedagogies 111 language teachers, employed in upper-secondary schools in Norway and Russia, reported implementing, their beliefs about how multilingualism benefitted students and teachers, and their self-assessed ability to teach language aspects and skills. The study also investigated whether sociobiographical variables and participants’ language habits outside of work affected their beliefs about multilingualism benefitting their students and implementation of multilingual pedagogies. The findings revealed that participants utilized multilingual pedagogies least frequently when teaching in first language contexts and that those who used foreign languages outside of work applied such pedagogies more frequently than participants who did not. Moreover, their beliefs about multilingualism benefitting their students were positively predicted by their beliefs about multilingualism benefitting teachers and negatively predicted by their support of the monolingual approach to language learning and teaching.

Moving beyond two languages: The effects of multilingualism on language processing and language learning

Chapter

Full-text available

Apr 2015

Bilingual processing: A dynamic and rapidly changing field

Chapter

Full-text available

Apr 2015

Premorbid language function: a prognostic factor for functional outcome in aphasia?

Article

Sep 2021

Background Stroke lesion size and location are understood to be more accurate predictors of recovery from aphasia than demographic variables such as age, education, or socioeconomic status. Aims We hypothesise that markedly high premorbid language function can influence functional recovery from aphasia. Methods & Procedures This case study reports the recovery of a 64-year-old right-handed male, with large left posterior cerebral artery territory infarct involving the thalamus, occipital lobe and posteromedial temporal lobe. The report is informed by retrospective review of clinical notes, language assessment, and interviews with the participant and his family. Premorbidly, he had acquired fluency in five additional languages in early adulthood, followed by a career in senior roles within corporate communications. Outcomes & Results Following severe expressive aphasia in the acute period, the subacute and chronic phases were characterised by residual mild anomia and cognitive communication difficulties apparent on formal assessment, yet masked in functional contexts through compensatory strategies and preservation of an authoritative premorbid communication style. Conclusions The current report provides single-case evidence that individuals with markedly high premorbid metalinguistic skills may, in functional contexts, be able to compensate for expressive aphasic deficits and preserve their communicative competence. The discrepancy between the participant’s performance on formal versus informal language assessment underscores the necessity for both perspectives for accurate diagnosis of aphasia. Consideration of premorbid language function can usefully guide clinical decision-making about intervention for individuals with aphasia.

Verbal working memory as a predictor of explicit and implicit knowledge of English passive voice

Chapter

Apr 2021

Is bilingualism associated with better working memory capacity? A meta-analysis

Article

Mar 2021

Due to their experience of managing two languages, it has been suggested that bilinguals could receive more practice in the domain of working memory (WM) leading to a WM bilingual advantage. Although some studies have shown that bilinguals can outperform monolinguals in WM tasks, the studies investigating WM capacity in bilinguals provide inconsistent findings regarding the existence of a bilingual advantage. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis on the association between bilingualism and WM capacity. Data from 116 studies (involving 177 pairs of participants and 444 effect sizes) were extracted. Based on previous findings, we examined age, characteristics of the WM tasks –i.e. complexity (simple span vs transformation vs complex span tasks) and domain (verbal vs nonverbal) – age of first exposure to L2, and L2 proficiency as potential moderating variables. Results indicated a small bilingual advantage in WM (g = .12, p =.054), which was moderated by the language used in the verbal WM task. The bilingual advantage was stronger when the verbal WM task was performed in L2 compared to L1. Thus, the bilingual experience is associated with slightly higher WM capacity. Nevertheless, future studies would benefit from greater consideration of individual differences within groups of bilingual individuals.

Rethinking bilingual enhancement effects in associative learning of foreign language vocabulary: The role of proficiency in the mediating language

Article

Dec 2020

The present study investigated claims that learning vocabulary in an unfamiliar language is more efficient in bilinguals than in monolinguals and the possible effects of language proficiency and dominance. In Experiment 1, monolingual (n = 48) and bilingual participants (n = 96) learned Japanese words paired with English translations and completed cued-recall and associative-recognition tests. Accuracy did not differ across monolingual and bilingual or language dominance groups. Nevertheless, in bilinguals, higher English proficiency was associated with higher accuracy. In Experiment 2, Japanese-English bilinguals (n = 40) learned Spanish-Japanese word pairs, and higher Japanese proficiency was associated with higher accuracy. Associative strategies were reported at a higher rate in bilingual than in monolingual participants but were not associated with more accurate performance. Careful comparisons of the present and previous results support the conclusion that higher proficiency in the language through which bilinguals learn foreign vocabulary enhances associative memory, but bilingualism itself does not.

Temporal dynamics of free recall: The role of rehearsal efficiency in word frequency and bilingual language proficiency effects

Article

Jan 2020

Under a recall model in which presentations and rehearsals are treated as equivalent encoding events, we investigated whether rehearsal efficiency differences explain the effects of word frequency and bilingual proficiency on the temporal dynamics of rehearsal and free recall. Experiments 1 and 3 were conducted with monolingual English speakers, and Experiments 2 and 4 were conducted with Spanish-English bilinguals with matched age, education, and socioeconomic status. In Experiments 1 and 2, lower word frequency, lower proficiency, and bilingualism were associated with less accurate free recall of items from early serial positions, beginning recall with items from later serial positions, and making fewer transitions to items from later or adjacent serial positions. These effects were replicated and rehearsal-based explanations were validated in Experiments 3 and 4 using a rehearse-aloud protocol. With lower frequency words or lower language proficiency, rehearsal was less efficient with fewer rehearsals between item presentations. As a result, items from early serial positions had fewer rehearsals that stopped earlier in the study sequence, less spacing between repeated rehearsals, and fewer transitions to items from later or adjacent serial positions. Rehearsal-contingent analyses revealed that these rehearsal patterns were associated with less accurate recall, beginning recall with items from later serial positions, and consistent transition patterns from rehearsal to recall. These patterns support a model in which presentations and rehearsals are treated as equivalent encoding events and the effects of word frequency and language proficiency on recall accuracy are mediated by less efficient rehearsal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Phonological Short-term Memory and L2 Reading Comprehension: A Case of Iranian EFL Learners

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2016

Mohammadtaghi Shahnazari

This study examined the role of phonological short-term memory (PSTM) in L2 reading comprehension at three proficiency levels. For this purpose, overall 140 EFL learners were employed at beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. They were all studying English as a foreign language in a private language school. All participants completed an English nonword recognition task, as a measure of PSTM. They also completed measures of reading proficiency, including a cloze test, a short- answer comprehension test, and a reading recall test. The data at three proficiency levels were collected and analyzed. The results of this study indicated that PSTM may employ a different type of cognitive resources and this is consistent at three different proficiency levels suggesting that proficiency level cannot play a role between PSTM and L2 reading comprehension. Keywords: Phonological short-term memory; L2 reading; L2 proficiency, English non-word recognition task

Language and categorization in monolinguals and bilinguals

Article

Aug 2019

People assume that objects labelled alike belong to the same category. Here we asked whether the role of labels in categorization depends on individuals' language experience, linguistic abilities, and/or cognitive abilities. We compared monolinguals' and bilinguals' use of phonologically licit words (zeg), illicit words (gsz), and non-linguistic frames (in addition to a baseline condition with no additional cues) in forming novel categories. For both groups, licit words affected categorization more than frames, especially in the absence of perceptual evidence for category boundaries; illicit words also shifted categorization preferences compared to frames. Furthermore, linguistic abilities predicted reliance on both licit and illicit words, and bilingualism predicted reliance on illicit words in categorization. Thus, in both monolinguals and bilinguals, novel (and even unconventional) linguistic labels act as unique category markers but their use in categorization depends on individual language processing skills (and, in some cases, exposure to a second language).

The Production Effect Improves Memory in 7‐ to 10‐Year‐Old Children

Article

May 2019

The production effect—whereby reading words aloud improves memory for those words relative to reading them silently—was investigated in two experiments with 7‐ to 10‐year‐old children residing in Brisbane, Australia. Experiment 1 (n = 41) involved familiar printed words, with words read aloud or silently appearing either in mixed‐ or blocked‐list formats in a within‐subject design. Recognition for words read aloud was better than for those read silently, an effect consistent across both list formats. These results were confirmed in Experiment 2 (n = 40) using longer lists of printed novel nonwords. Final analyses indicated that the production effect was comparable for words and nonwords. Findings are discussed in relation to the distinctiveness account and the use of production as a mnemonic in children.

Differences in word learning: bilingualism or linguistic experience?

Preprint

Full-text available

Feb 2019

Bilinguals may be better than monolinguals at word learning due to their increased experience with language learning. In addition, bilinguals that have languages that are orthotactically different could be more used to dissimilar orthotactic patterns. The current study examines how bilinguals with languages that are orthotactically similar and dissimilar and monolinguals learn novel words that violate or respect the orthotactic legality of the languages they know and how this learning may be affected by the similarity between the bilinguals' two languages. In Experiment 1, three groups of children were tested: monolinguals, Spanish-Basque bilinguals (dissimilar orthotactic languages), and Spanish-Catalan bilinguals (similar orthotactic languages). After an initial word learning phase, they were tested in a recall task and a recognition task. Results showed that Spanish-Basque bilingual children performed differently than the other two groups. While Spanish monolinguals and Spanish-Catalan bilinguals recognized illegal words worse than legal words, Spanish-Basque bilinguals showed equal performance in learning illegal and legal patterns. A replication study conducted with two new groups of Spanish-Basque children (one group with high Basque proficiency and one group with a lower proficiency) indicated that the effects were not driven by the proficiency in the second language since a similar performance on legal and illegal patterns was observed in both groups. In Experiment 2, two groups of adults, monolinguals and Spanish-Basque bilinguals, were tested with the same task used in Experiment 1. The effect seen in children seems to be absent in adults. Spanish-Basque bilingual adults showed better overall learning performance than monolinguals, irrespective of the illegality of the items. Differences between groups could be due to the effect of having acquired literacy and linguistic competence.

Verbal and spatial immediate memory span: Normative data from 1355 adults and 112 children

Article

Full-text available

Jan 1987

Phonology, Working Memory, and Foreign-language Learning

Article

Full-text available

Aug 1992

Elisabet Service

Three tasks were used to predict English learning by Finnish children over a three-year period. In the pseudoword repetition task the pupils had to repeat aloud tape-recorded pseudowords sounding like Finnish or English. In the pseudoword copying task the pupils saw strings of letters resembling Finnish or English words and copied them when they had disappeared from view. When comparing syntactic-semantic structures, the pupils had to find the syntactically matching pairs from two sets of Finnish sentences. Repetition and copying accuracy and the ability to compare syntactic-semantic structures predicted English learning. Intercorrelations between test scores and English and mathematics grades suggest that repetition and copying accuracy were specifically related to language learning. It is concluded that the ability to represent unfamiliar phonological material in working memory underlies the acquisition of new vocabulary items in foreign-language learning.

Verbal and spatial immediate memory span: Normative data from 1355 adults and 1112 children

Article

Full-text available

Jan 1988

Norms are provided for verbal and visuo-spatial immediate memory span, two tasks widely used in the clinical assessment of short-term memory and its neurological disorders. Data have been collected from 1355 male and female adult subjects, with various educational backgrounds and a 20-99 years age range. Span shows a major decrement after the late sixties and is affected by educational level. Male subjects score better on the spatial task. Data collected from 1112 male and female children, 4-to-10 year-old, show that span increases with age and boys score better on the spatial test.

Interhemispheric differences in the localization of psychological processes in man

Article

Sep 1971

Brenda Milner

Phonological Short-term Memory and the Learning of Novel Words: The Effect of Phonological Similarity and Item Length

Article

Jan 1992

The investigation of a patient with a selective impairment of phonological short-term memory has recently provided evidence that this system may be involved in long-term learning of novel words, for which a pre-existing semantic representation is not available (Baddeley, Papagno, & Vallar, 1988). The present series of experiments in normal subjects explored this hypothesis. We assessed the effects of phonological similarity and item length, which reflect the operation of the phonological short-term store and the rehearsal component of verbal memory, upon paired associate long-term learning of auditorily presented words and non-words. Phonological similarity affected the learning of novel words more than known words (Experiment 1); when a delay was interposed between presentation and recall, the disruptive effect was confined to novel words (Experiment 2). Also word length disrupted the learning of novel words, but not of known words (Experiment 3). These results tie in with neuropsychological evidence to suggest a role for phonological short-term memory in the learning of new words, and they have developmental implications for the study of language acquisition.

Acoustic confusion in immediate memory

Article

Feb 1964
BRIT J PSYCHOL

R. Conrad

Sequences of 6 letters of the alphabet were visually presented for immediate recall to 387 subjects. Errors showed a systematic relationship to original stimuli. This is held to meet a requirement of the decay theory of immediate memory. The same letter vocabulary was used in a test in which subjects were required to identify the letters spoken against a white noise background. A highly significant correlation was found between letters which confused in the listening test, and letters which confused in recall. The role of neurological noise in recall is discussed in relation to these results. It is further argued that information theory is inadequate to explain the memory span, since the nature of the stimulus set, which can be defined quantitatively, as well as the information per item, is likely to be a determining factor.

Short-term phonological memory and long-term learning: A single case study

Article

Jun 1993

Alan Baddeley

The study concerns S.R., a graduate student with a specific deficit in short-term phonological memory, whose performance on a range of memory and learning tasks is compared to a group of six fellow students. S.R. performed at a consistently lower level than the controls on a range of tasks involving short-term verbal memory, including digit span, nonword repetition, memory for dissimilar and similar consonants and words, and memory for words differing in length. He nevertheless showed normal effects of phonological similarity and word length, suggesting that his phonological loop was qualitatively normal. Short-term memory for visual patterns was normal. Long-term memory was tested using the Doors and People Test. This showed excellent visual recognition and pattern learning memory, coupled with poor performance on recognition or recall of names. By analogy with a patient with an acquired deficit in short-term phonological memory, it was predicted that S.R. would show normal verbal learning of pairs of meaningful English words, but would be impaired in his capacity for new phonological learning as reflected in the acquisition of Finnish vocabulary. This proved to be the case, providing further evidence for the role of the phonological loop in long-term learning.

Neuropsychological Impairments of Short-Term Memory

Article

Jan 1995

The role of phonological memory in vocabulary acquisition: A study of young children learning new names

Article

Nov 1990

Investigated the possibility of a causal relationship between phonological memory and vocabulary acquisition by testing the abilities of 19 5–6 yr old children high and 18 low in repetition performance to learn labels for unfamiliar toy animals. Low-repetition Ss were slower at learning phonologically unfamiliar names such as "Pimas" for the toys, although there was no difference in learning speed for familiar names such as "Thomas." The 2 groups also differed 1 day later in their retention of the labels that had initially been learned. Results suggest that immediate memory processes are directly involved in the learning of new vocabulary items in young children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III

Article

Jan 1981

David Wechsler

The revision of the Wechsler-Bellevue Adult Intelligence Scale retains the type of item categories but has numerous changes in the items. Standardization is based on a stratified sample of 1700 adults ages 16 to 64. Additional norms are given for ages above 64 based on a different group of subjects. Reliabilities for verbal, performance and full scale IQ's are .96, .93, and .97, and for the subtests range from .65 to .96. Manual includes directions for administering, IQ tables, and scaled score tables. Officially the title is to be abbreviated WAIS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

When does rapid presentation enhance digit span?

Article

Sep 1984
Bull Psychonomic Soc

Two experiments with 48 23–65 yr olds investigated the suggestion in trace-decay theory that rapid presentation should lead to good immediate memory. It is suggested that this has not been previously supported by empirical evidence because articulatory rehearsal allows functional rate of presentation or re-presentation to be independent of nominal presentation rate. In the present experiments, it was predicted that if rehearsal was prevented by articulatory suppression, then digit span would be greater with rapid than with slow presentation. In Exp I, suppression during presentation, but not during recall, led to an advantage for rapid presentation. Results of Exp II show that, if suppression occurred during both presentation and recall, this advantage was lost. Findings suggest that rapid presentation is advantageous only if items can be retrieved within the 1–2 sec required for trace decay. Thus, memory span is a function of 2 factors, the rate at which the trace of an individual item fades and the rate at which the S is able to refresh the memory trace by rehearsal. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The influence of syllables and wordlikeness on children's repetition of nonwords

Article

Sep 1991
APPL PSYCHOLINGUIST

It has recently been suggested that the developmental association between nonword repetition performance and vocabulary knowledge reflects the contribution of phonological memory processes to vocabulary acquisition (e.g., Gathercole & Baddeley, 1989). An alternative account of the association is that the child uses existing vocabulary knowledge to support memory for nonwords. The present article tests between these two alternative accounts by evaluating the role of phonological memory and linguistic factors in nonword repetition. In a longitudinal database, repetition accuracy in 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds was found to be sensitive to two independent factors: a phonological memory factor, nonword length, and a linguistic factor, wordlikeness. To explain these combined influences, it is suggested that repeating nonwords involves temporary phonological memory storage which may be supported by either a specific lexical analogy or by an appropriate abstract phonological frame generated from structurally similar vocabulary items.

Fractionation of working memory: Neuropsychological evidence for a phonological short-term store

Article

Apr 1984

A patient with grossly defective short-term memory but fluent speech was studied in order to pinpoint the locus of the deficit. Her immediate memory for consonant sequences showed a clear phonological similarity effect with auditory presentation, but no effect of similarity when presentation was visual. She showed no effect of articulatory suppression and no effect of word length on span, both of which suggest that she was not using subvocal rehearsal. A further test showed that this was not due to her inability to articulate rapidly since her rate of repeating the number sequence 1–10 and of the alphabet was comparable with normal control subjects. These results are interpreted in terms of the articulatory loop component of a working memory model. It is suggested that the loop comprises a phonological store, with obligatory access by auditory spoken material, and optional access through the control process of subvocal rehearsal. Our patient appears to suffer from a defect of the phonological store. This removes the normal advantage gained from using subvocal rehearsal, and induces her to rely instead on visual storage.

Phonological STM and foreign language learning

Article

Jun 1991

Data from foreign language vocabulary learning in a short-term memory patient, and native language vocabulary learning in children suggest that the short-term phonological store plays an important role in long-term learning. The present study used articulatory suppression to explore the role of the phonological loop system of working memory in the acquisition by adults of foreign language vocabulary. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that articulatory suppression disrupts the learning of Russian vocabulary, but not native language paired associates, by Italian subjects. Two apparently equivalent experiments, however, using English subjects failed to demonstrate the predicted disruption of Russian vocabulary learning by articulatory suppression. This was shown to be attributable to the greater association value of the Russian words to the English subjects. Two final experiments using English subjects replicated the Italian results, showing a differential disruption of the learning of unfamiliar material, when this comprises either CVC-CVC nonsense items, or Finnish words that were selected to be very dissimilar to English. It is concluded that the phonological loop concept of working memory is used in foreign language vocabulary acquisition, but can be circumvented if the material allows semantic associations to be created.

Word length and the structure of memory

Article

Dec 1975

A number of experiments explored the hypothesis that immediate memory span is not constant, but varies with the length of the words to be recalled. Results showed: (1) Memory span is inversely related to word length across a wide range of materials; (2) When number of syllables and number of phonemes are held constant, words of short temporal duration are better recalled than words of long duration; (3) Span could be predicted on the basis of the number of words which the subject can read in approximately 2 sec; (4) When articulation is suppressed by requiring the subject to articulate an irrelevant sound, the word length effect disappears with visual presentation, but remains when presentation is auditory. The results are interpreted in terms of a phonemically-based store of limited temporal capacity, which may function as an output buffer for speech production, and as a supplement to a more central working memory system.

When long-term learning depends on short-term memory

Article

Oct 1988

Since the 1960s, there has been controversy as to whether long-term learning might depend on some form of temporary short-term storage. Evidence that patients with grossly impaired memory span might show normal learning was, however, particularly problematic for such views. We reexamine the question by studying the learning capacity of a patient, P.V., with a very pure deficit in short-term memory. A series of experiments compare her learning capacity with that of matched controls. The first experiment shows that her capacity to learn pairs of meaningful words is within the normal range. A second experiment examines her capacity to learn to associate a familiar word with an unfamiliar item from another language. With auditory presentation she is completely unable to perform this task. Further studies show that when visual presentation is used she shows evidence of learning, but is clearly impaired. It is suggested that short-term phonological storage is important for learning unfamiliar verbal material, but is not essential for forming associations between meaningful items that are already known. Implications for the possible role of a phonological short-term store in the acquisition of vocabulary by children are discussed.

Memory for familiar and unfamiliar words: Evidence for a long-term memory contribution to short-term memory span

Article

Dec 1991

Two experiments are described which demonstrate a long-term memory contribution to memory span. In the first experiment nonwords were used because they lack a long-term memory representation. Memory span was lower for nonwords than words and in both cases a linear function related recall to speech rate for items of differing spoken durations. The function for nonwords had an equivalent slope (interpreted as reflecting a contribution from a subvocal rehearsal process) but a lower intercept (interpreted as reflecting a contribution from a long-term memory component). The second experiment compared the spans for Italian and English words. The span was lower for Italian words than for English words, due to a depression in the intercept of the recall-speech rate function, but learning the English translations of these words increased subjects' memory span for them.

Evaluation of the role of phonological STM in the development of vocabulary in children: A longitudinal study

Article

Apr 1989

This study explores the hypothesis that the short-term phonological storage component of working memory may play a role in the acquisition of vocabulary by young children. In a longitudinal design, the vocabulary skills of 104 children entering school between the ages of 4 and 5 were tested and retested 1 year later. On both occasions, phonological memory was investigated by requiring a child to repeat back nonwords varying in length and complexity, while nonverbal intelligence and reading were assessed using standard tests. The phonological memory score was highly correlated with vocabulary at both age 4 (r = .525) and age 5 (r = .572), in both cases accounting for a substantial and significant proportion of the variance when all other predictors are removed by stepwise regression. Phonological memory at age 4 also accounted for a significant amount of variance in vocabulary score at age 5, over and above that accounted for by the vocabulary score the previous year. Although these relationships are necessarily correlational in nature, the data are certainly consistent with the view that phonological memory is involved in the acquisition of new vocabulary in children. Possible mechanisms accounting for this relationship are discussed.

Standardizzazione e Taratura Italiana di Test Neuropsicologici

Article

Jan 1987
Ital J Neurol Sci

Interhemispheric differences and psychological processes

Article

Oct 1971

Brenda Milner

Left hemisphere damage and selective impairment of auditory verbal short-term memory. A case study

Article

Feb 1982
NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA

The case of a left-hemisphere damaged patient with an impairment of auditory verbal memory span is described. The neuropsychological study showed a dissociation between short-term and long-term auditory verbal memory, which may be attributed to a selective defect of auditory verbal short-term memory. Since a tachistoscopic study displayed a short-term memory superiority of the left hemisphere, it can be argued that the performance for visual verbal stimuli may still be held by the left hemisphere, albeit computerized tomography showed a left-hemisphere lesion involving the whole language area.

Preserved Vocabulary Acquisition in Down's Syndrome: The Role of Phonological Short-term Memory

Article

Oct 1993
CORTEX

We report the study of a 23-year-old Italian girl, FF, with Down's syndrome (trisomy 21). FF showed a remarkably good developmental acquisition of Italian language and vocabulary and was able to learn English and French, although the latter with less proficiency. FF showed an entirely preserved function of the phonological short-term store and articulatory rehearsal components of verbal short-term memory. By contrast, she was impaired in a wide range of tasks assessing verbal and non-verbal reasoning, visuo-spatial perception and memory, and verbal long-term memory. These findings, in line with evidence from brain-damaged patients, normal subjects and children, suggest that phonological short-term memory plays a crucial role in vocabulary acquisition, which may occur in the presence of substantial deficits of general intelligence and episodic memory.

The impairment of auditory-verbal short-term storage

Jan 1990
11-53

T Shallice
G Vallar

Shallice, T., & Vallar, G. (1990). The impairment of auditory-verbal short-term storage. In: G. Vallar 8i T. Shallice (Eds.), Neuropsychological impairments of short-term memory (pp. 11-53). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Progressrve matrices. Serie A-B-C-SE

Jan 1954

J C Raven

Raven, J.C. (1954). Progressrve matrices. Serie A-B-C-SE. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali.

When does rapid presentation enhance digit span? Exploring the articulatory loop When long-term learning depends on short-term Word length and the structure of short-term Basso Acoustic confusions in immediate memory

Jan 1964
75-84

A D Baddeley
V Lewis
A D Baddeley
V Lewis
G Vallar
A D Baddeley
C Papagno
G Vallar
A D Baddeley
N Thomson
M Buchanan

Baddeley, A.D., & Lewis, V. (1984). When does rapid presentation enhance digit span? Bulletin of the Baddeley, A.D., Lewis, V., & Vallar, G. (1984). Exploring the articulatory loop. Quarterly Journal of Baddeley, A.D., Papagno, C., & Vallar, G. (1988). When long-term learning depends on short-term Baddeley, A.D., Thomson, N., & Buchanan, M. (1975). Word length and the structure of short-term Basso, A., Spinnler, H., Vallar, G., & Zanobio, M.E. (1982). Left hemisphere damage and selective Conrad, R. (1964). Acoustic confusions in immediate memory. British Journal of Psychology, 55, 75-84.

IYYO) The role of phonological memory in vocabulary acquisition: A study of young children learning arbitrary names of toys. BritrshJournal of Ps.ychology The influence of number of syllables and wordlikeness on children's repetition of nonwords

Jan 1991
349-367

S E Gathercole
A D Baddeley

Gathercole, S.E., & Baddeley, A.D. (IYYO). The role of phonological memory in vocabulary acquisition: A study of young children learning arbitrary names of toys. BritrshJournal of Ps.ychology, 81,439454, Gathercole, S.E., Willis, C., Emslie, H., & Baddeley, A.D. (1991). The influence of number of syllables and wordlikeness on children's repetition of nonwords. Applied Psycholinguzstics, 12, 349-367.

Verbal Short-term Memory and Vocabulary Learning in Polyglots

Abstract

No full-text available

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