Bilingual Recognition Research Articles

Order effects in bilingual recognition memory partially confirm predictions of the frequency-lag hypothesis

ABSTRACT The present study examined task order, language, and frequency effects on list memory to investigate how bilingualism affects recognition memory. In Experiment 1, 64 bilinguals completed a recognition memory task including intermixed high and medium frequency words in English and another list in Spanish. In Experiment 2, 64 bilinguals and 64 monolinguals studied lists with only high frequency English words and a separate list with only low frequency English words, in counterbalanced order followed by a recognition test. In Experiment 1, bilinguals who completed the task in the dominant language first outperformed bilinguals tested in the nondominant language first, and order effects were not stronger in the dominant language. In Experiment 2, participants who were tested with high frequency word lists first outperformed those tested with low frequency word lists first. Regardless of language and testing order, memory for English and high frequency words was lower than memory for Spanish and medium frequency (in Experiment 1) or low frequency (in Experiment 2) words. Order effects on recognition memory patterned differently from previously reported effects on picture naming in ways that do not suggest between language interference and instead invite an analogy between language dominance and frequency of use (i.e., dominant language = higher frequency) as the primary factor affecting bilingual recognition memory.

부모와의 관계가 이중언어인식의 매개를 통해 다문화가족 아동의 자긍심에 미치는 영향

부모와의 관계가 이중언어인식의 매개를 통해 다문화가족 아동의 자긍심에 미치는 영향

Bilingual Language Switching: Production vs. Recognition.

This study aims at assessing how bilinguals select words in the appropriate language in production and recognition while minimizing interference from the non-appropriate language. Two prominent models are considered which assume that when one language is in use, the other is suppressed. The Inhibitory Control (IC) model suggests that, in both production and recognition, the amount of inhibition on the non-target language is greater for the stronger compared to the weaker language. In contrast, the Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA) model proposes that, in language recognition, the amount of inhibition on the weaker language is stronger than otherwise. To investigate whether bilingual language production and recognition can be accounted for by a single model of bilingual processing, we tested a group of native speakers of Dutch (L1), advanced speakers of English (L2) in a bilingual recognition and production task. Specifically, language switching costs were measured while participants performed a lexical decision (recognition) and a picture naming (production) task involving language switching. Results suggest that while in language recognition the amount of inhibition applied to the non-appropriate language increases along with its dominance as predicted by the IC model, in production the amount of inhibition applied to the non-relevant language is not related to language dominance, but rather it may be modulated by speakers' unconscious strategies to foster the weaker language. This difference indicates that bilingual language recognition and production might rely on different processing mechanisms and cannot be accounted within one of the existing models of bilingual language processing.

The bilingual L2 advantage in recognition memory

To better understand the mechanisms by which bilingual proficiency impacts memory processes, two recognition memory experiments were conducted with matched monolingual and bilingual samples. In Experiment 1, monolingual speakers of English and Spanish studied high- and low-frequency words under full attention or cognitive load conditions. In Experiment 2, Spanish-English bilingual participants studied high- and low-frequency words under full-attention conditions in each language. For both monolinguals and bilinguals, low-frequency words were better recognized than high-frequency words. The central new findings were that bilingual recognition was more accurate in the less fluent language (L2) than in the more fluent language (L1) and that bilingual L2 recognition was more accurate than monolingual recognition. The bilingual L2 advantage parallels word frequency effects in recognition and is attributed to the greater episodic distinctiveness of L2 words, relative to L1 words.

Contribution of Linguistic Variables to Bilingual Listeners' Perception of Degraded English Sentences

The present study was designed to investigate what linguistic variables best predict bilingual recognition of acoustically degraded sentences and how to identify bilingual individuals who might have more difficulty than their monolingual counterparts on such tasks. Four hundred English speech-perception-in-noise (SPIN) sentences with high and low context were presented in combinations of noise (signal-to-noise ratio: +6 and 0 dB) and reverberation (reverberation time: 1.2 and 3.6 s) to 10 monolingual and 50 bilingual listeners. A detailed linguistic profile was obtained for bilingual listeners using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire. Variables per reading in English (age of fluency, proficiency, and preference) emerged as strong predictors of performance across noise, reverberation, and context effects. Via discriminant analyses, bilingual listeners who rated their accent to be perceptible and reported shorter length of immersion in an English-spoken country or school tended to score significantly lower on the SPIN test than monolingual listeners. Bilingual listeners' linguistic background plays a major role in their use of context in degraded English sentences. Rather than conventional variables such as age of acquisition, variables pertaining to reading, proficiency, immersion, and accent severity may be obtained for improved prediction of bilingual performance on the task.

Bilingual recognition memory: Stronger performance but weaker levels-of-processing effects in the less fluent language

The effects of bilingual proficiency on recognition memory were examined in an experiment with Spanish-English bilinguals. Participants learned lists of words in English and Spanish under shallow- and deep-encoding conditions. Overall, hit rates were higher, discrimination greater, and response times shorter in the nondominant language, consistent with effects previously observed for lower frequency words. Levels-of-processing effects in hit rates, discrimination, and response time were stronger in the dominant language. Specifically, with shallow encoding, the advantage for the nondominant language was larger than with deep encoding. The results support the idea that memory performance in the nondominant language is impacted by both the greater demand for cognitive resources and the lower familiarity of the words.

Monolingual and bilingual recognition of regular and irregular English verbs: Sensitivity to form similarity varies with first language experience

We used a cross-modal priming procedure to explore the processing of irregular and regular English verb forms in both monolinguals and bilinguals (Serbian-English, Chinese-English). Materials included irregular nested stem (drawn–DRAW), irregular change stem (ran–RUN), and regular past tense–present tense verb pairs that were either low (guided–GUIDE) or high (pushed–PUSH) in resonance, a measure of semantic richness. Overall, semantic richness of irregular verbs (nested and irregular change) and of regular verbs (high and low resonance) was matched. Native speakers of English revealed comparable facilitation across regularity and greater facilitation for nested than change stem irregulars. Like native speakers, Serbian, but not Chinese bilinguals matched for proficiency, showed facilitation due to form overlap between irregular past and present tense forms with a nested stem. Unlike native speakers, neither group showed reliable facilitation to stem change irregulars. Results demonstrate the influence of first language on inflectional processing in a second language.

Bilingual Recognition of Concrete and Abstract Sentences

Eight French-English bilinguals were presented two lists of sentences constructed from different scenarios. For some of the scenarios, the language of the sentences was constant but for others, varied. On a subsequent recognition test, subjects received three types of sentences: (a) some previously presented (literals), (b) some semantically related but not previously presented (recognitions), (c) some differing only in language of presentation (translations). For both abstract and concrete scenarios in which initial presentation was in one language subjects made significantly fewer false acceptances than correct acceptances. However, for concrete scenarios in which the initial language of presentation had varied subjects accepted as many translations as recognitions and as many recognitions as literals. With the abstract scenarios which varied in the language of initial presentation subjects accepted as many recognitions as literals and more translations than literals. The results were interpreted in terms of the principle of variability of encoding.

Etude génétique de la reconnaissance bilingue

Summary Recognition of significant words is tested under 4 conditions of presentation and recognition : 1) French-French (FF) ; 2) English-English (EE) ; 3) English-French (AF) ; 4) French-English (FA). Subjects were selected according to 5 learning levels of the foreign language (English language) : pupils of the 5th, 3rd and lst forms and lst and 3rd year university students majoring in English. Monolingual recognition (FF and AA) is higher than bilingual recognition (AF and FA). Lower level subjects (5th and 3rd forms) performed better than advanced students (5th, 3rd and lstforms are superior to lst and 3rd year university mainly in monolingual situations). The results are interpreted by hypothesizing differential coding in terms of perceptual or semantic cues. Perceptual coding seems to be superior to semantic coding in immediate recognition tasks.