Abstract
Language is often present when people are encoding visual memories. For bilinguals, this language context can have different forms (i.e., Language A, Language B, or both Language A and B), and can change over the course of events. The current study examined whether a change in language context during a visual event or between visual events affects a bilingual’s ability to remember visual information. English-Spanish bilinguals and control participants encoded three lists of novel shapes amid different task-irrelevant language contexts. Following each list, participants completed a free recall test in which they drew the novel shapes they remembered. Results indicated that a change in language context between events, but not during events, affected visual memory. Specifically, the switch in language context between the second and third event (such as an English context in list 2 switching to a Spanish context in list 3) produced a reliable memory advantage for the English-Spanish bilinguals (relative to the control participants). The results offer preliminary evidence that task-irrelevant language context can influence a bilingual’s ability to remember non-linguistic information, as well as further evidence for context effects and multi-sensory effects in memory.
Highlights
Considering that we likely hear upwards of hundreds of words per hour (Hart and Risley, 2003), much of our encoding of visual memories occurs in the context of spoken language
With research on event processing as a guiding theoretical framework, the current study served as a preliminary examination into how changes in the ambient linguistic environment might influence visual memory in bilinguals
The study assessed whether a shift in language context within an event or between events enhances a bilingual’s visual memory, with the results providing partial initial empirical support for hypothesis 2
Summary
Considering that we likely hear upwards of hundreds of words per hour (Hart and Risley, 2003), much of our encoding of visual memories occurs in the context of spoken language. For most people, this spoken language context consists of one or both of their two languages, as bilingualism is the norm worldwide (Grosjean, 2015). The current study provides an initial examination, by assessing whether a change in language context during or between events influences English-Spanish bilinguals’ ability to remember novel shapes. Event segmentation could be assisted by a change in language context (for example, a switch from English into Spanish).
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