Depth of Encoding Through Observed Gestures in Foreign Language Word Learning.

Manuela Macedonia,Claudia Repetto,Karsten Mueller,Anja Ischebeck

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00033

Abstract

Word learning is basic to foreign language acquisition, however time consuming and not always successful. Empirical studies have shown that traditional (visual) word learning can be enhanced by gestures. The gesture benefit has been attributed to depth of encoding. Gestures can lead to depth of encoding because they trigger semantic processing and sensorimotor enrichment of the novel word. However, the neural underpinning of depth of encoding is still unclear. Here, we combined an fMRI and a behavioral study to investigate word encoding online. In the scanner, participants encoded 30 novel words of an artificial language created for experimental purposes and their translation into the subjects’ native language. Participants encoded the words three times: visually, audiovisually, and by additionally observing semantically related gestures performed by an actress. Hemodynamic activity during word encoding revealed the recruitment of cortical areas involved in stimulus processing. In this study, depth of encoding can be spelt out in terms of sensorimotor brain networks that grow larger the more sensory modalities are linked to the novel word. Word retention outside the scanner documented a positive effect of gestures in a free recall test in the short term.

Highlights

Vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language (L2) is a tedious and time-consuming task that learners usually perform by reading and repeating the words in bilingual lists
In the fMRI contrast analyses, we examined the neural activity involved in encoding novel words in a foreign language according to three conditions with growing complexity
In the free recall test in Vimmi, memory performance again differed depending on the type of encoding [F(2,60) = 3.38, p = 0.04, η2 = 0.1], with sensorimotor encoding proving superior to visual [F(1,30) = 5.23, p = 0.03; η2 = 0.15] but not to audiovisual encoding [F(1,30) = 3.93, p = 0.06]

Summary

Introduction

Vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language (L2) is a tedious and time-consuming task that learners usually perform by reading and repeating the words in bilingual lists. The positive effect of gestures on memory for words and phrases in native language – the enactment effect – has been investigated extensively since the 1980s (for reviews, see Nilsson, 2000; Zimmer, 2001) and has been explained by the following different and partially controversial accounts. Studies attributing the enactment effect to the above reasons address depth of encoding as the factor leading to the memory enhancement (Quinn-Allen, 1995; Tellier, 2008; Kelly et al, 2009; Macedonia et al, 2011; Macedonia and Klimesch, 2014). Thereafter memorization consists of three stages: encoding (processing of incoming information), storage (maintenance and representation of the information), and retrieval (recollection of the information for specific purposes) (Atkinson and Shriffin, 1968)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion