Temporary Decline of Thinking Ability due to Foreign Language Use

本研究通过两个实验探讨了外语效应是否也会发生在日常生活中。外语效应是指思维能力（即，进行非语言信息处理的能力）在一个人使用一种她不像用她自己的母语那样熟练的外语时会暂时降低。这一现象首先在实验上得到了证实，并由Takano and Neda（1993，1995）首先从理论上解释了其发生的过程。本研究是一系列研究的一部分，旨在调查在使用外语的日常环境中是否会出现这种外语副作用。在这样的环境中，思维的材料往往是口头提供的，因此思维可能不仅伴随着非言语信息加工，而且还伴随着言语信息加工。换句话说，思维可能伴随着内部语言。 ...更多信息 在大多数情况下，这种内部语言将是更容易处理的母语。然而，当思维伴随着内部母语时，外语的副作用可能不会发生。一般来说，两条并行的信息处理线路越相似，它们之间的干扰就越强。当思维伴随着内部母语时，母语作为外部语言时的干扰更强，因此表现比外语作为外部语言时更低。为了验证这种可能性，实验1要求被试判断三段论陈述的有效性，实验2要求被试回答旨在评估言语智力的问题。参与者（本科生和研究生）同时执行这些思维任务之一和口头任务。在两个实验中，当同时进行的口头任务是外语时，思维任务的表现较低（即，英语）比用母语（即，日语）。这些结果表明，外语的副作用也可能发生在日常环境中，在这种环境中，思维往往伴随着内部语言。少

The present study investigated in two experiments whether the foreign language effect would occur in everyday settings as well.The foreign language effect refers to a phenomenon that thinking ability (i.e., ability to perform non-verbal information processing) is reduced temporarily while one is using a foreign language in which she is not so skilled as in her own mother language. This phenomenon was first verified empirically and a theoretical explanation as to the process of its occurrence was first provided by Takano and Neda (1993, 1995).The present study was conducted as a part of a series of studies aimed at investigating whether this foreign language side effect occurs in everyday settings where a foreign language is used. In such settings, materials of thinking are often given verbally, and thus thinking is possibly accompanied by not only non-verbal information processing but also verbal information processing. In other words, thinking may be accompanied by internal language. … More In most cases, this internal language will be mother language, which is easier to process. When thinking is accompanied by internal mother language, however, the foreign language side effect may not occur. In general, the more similar two concurrent lines of information processing, the stronger interference between them. When thinking is accompanied by internal mother language, the interference is stronger and thus performance is lower when mother language is used as external language than when foreign language is used as external language. This lower performance may well cancel out the foreign language side effect.To examine this possibility, Experiment 1 required participants to judge validity of syllogistic statements, and Experiment 2 required participants to answer problems which were designed to assess verbal intelligence. Participants (undergraduate and graduate students) performed one of these thinking tasks and a verbal task at the same time.In either experiment, the performance in the thinking task was lower when the concurrent verbal task was given in the foreign language (i.e., English) than when it was given in the mother language (i.e., Japanese). These results indicate that the foreign language side effect could occur in everyday settings as well, in which thinking is often accompanied by internal language. Less