Memory and Language in Bilinguals

描述(申请人提供)：这项研究的目标是帮助理解语言和记忆之间的关系，作为一般的认知现象，特别是与双语者相关的。两个实验探索了语言对认知表现的影响，以确定在语义提取中是否可以观察到语言依赖记忆。语言依赖记忆的现象表明，当提取时的语言环境与编码时的语言环境相匹配时，记忆变得更容易获得。说一种以上语言的人尤其有可能经历语言依赖，因为他们的记忆很可能在不同的语言环境中编码。通过编码语言和提取语言的匹配，双语者的记忆表现将得到改善，而双语者的认知表现将从恢复编码时的语言环境中受益。本研究将先前关于情景记忆的语言相关提取的研究扩展到日常生活中获得的真实世界知识的语言相关提取(实验1)和在学术环境中学习的信息的语言依赖提取(实验2)。了解语言是如何影响记忆可及性的，可能会对双语者在教育、心理、医疗和法律环境中的评估和测试产生直接影响。此外，研究语言对双语者记忆的影响可能有助于对更高层次的认知过程的一般理解，如语言和记忆之间的相互作用是如何表现出来的，影响的大小，以及可能存在的一些潜在机制。

Description (provided by applicant): The goals of this research are to contribute to understanding the relationship between language and memory, both as general cognitive phenomena and as relevant to bilinguals in particular. Two experiments explore the effect of language on cognitive performance to establish whether language-dependent memory can be observed in semantic retrieval. The phenomenon of language-dependent memory suggests that memories become more accessible when the linguistic environment at retrieval matches the linguistic environment at encoding. Speakers of more than one language are particularly likely to experience language dependence, since their memories are likely to be encoded in different linguistic environments. It is predicted that bilinguals' memory performance will be improved by a match between language of encoding and language of retrieval, and that bilinguals' cognitive performance will benefit from reinstating the linguistic environment present at the time of encoding. The present project extends previous research on language dependent retrieval of episodic memories to language-dependent retrieval of real-world knowledge acquired in everyday life (Experiment 1) and to language-dependent retrieval of information learned in academic settings (Experiment 2). Understanding how language influences memory accessibility may have direct implications for assessment and testing of bilinguals in educational, psychological, medical, and legal settings. Moreover, studying the effects of language on memory in bilinguals may contribute to a general understanding of higher-level cognitive processes, such as how the interaction between language and memory manifests itself, the magnitude of the effects, and what may be some underlying mechanisms.