Abstract
Developmental changes in intra- and interlingual interference were followed in 74 German-Swedish bilingual and 15 trilingual subjects using Stroop tasks for vision. The results provide evidence that the differential pattern of interference is mainly determined by language usage. Intra- and interlingual interference follow language dominance patterns in an everchanging process; hence, it is the point of measurement that determines whether equivalent or different amounts of interference are obtained. Stimuli characteristics determine points of language balance but are—like cognitive capabilities—of minor importance for the differential pattern of interference. Stroop task performance cannot be taken as evidence for or against the interdependence hypothesis of bilingual storage, since the Stroop situation does not permit one language to be turned off. Prolonged response times in multilinguals, found in this study, are more congruent with the interdependence hypothesis. By providing this developmental perspective, the current findings can explain previous contradictory results.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albert, M. L., & Obler, L. K. (1978).The bilingual brain. New York: Academic Press.
Anderson, J. R., & Bower, G. H. (1973).Human associative memory. Washington D.C.: Winston.
Bever, T. G. (1970). The cognitive basis for linguistic structures. In J. R. Hayes (Ed.),Cognition and the development of language, New York: Wiley.
Callaway, E. (1959). The influence of amobarbital (amylobarbitone) and methamphetamine on the focus of attention.Journal of Mental Science, 105, 382–392.
Durga, R. (1978). Bilingualism and interlingual interference.Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 9, 401–415.
Dyer, F. N. (1971). Color-naming interference in monolinguals and bilinguals.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 10, 297–302.
Ehri, L. C., & Ryan, E. B. (1980). Performance of bilinguals in a picture-word interference task.Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 9, 285–302.
Hamers, J. F., & Lambert, W. E. (1972). Bilingual interdependencies in auditory perception.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 303–310.
Jensen, A. R. (1965). Scoring the Stroop-test.Acta Psychologica, 24, 398–408.
Jung, U. O. H. (1981). Englisch als Fremdsprache für Kinder mit Deutsch als Zweitsprache.Grazer Linguistiche Studien, 14, 83–97.
Kiyak, H. A. (1982). Interlingual interference in naming color words.Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 13, 125–135.
Kolers, P. A., & Gonzalez, E. (1980). Memory for words, synonyms, and translations.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 6, 53–65.
Leedy, H. B. (1963).An investigation of the range of cue utilization as a function of induced and intrinsic drive. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Purdue University.
Macnamara, J. (1972). Cognitive basis of language learning in infants.Psychological Review, 79, 1–13.
McLaughlin, B. (1978).Second language-acquisition in childhood. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.
Mägiste, E. (1979a). The competing language systems of the multilingual: A developmental study of decoding and encoding processes.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 79–89.
Mägiste, E. (1979b). Recall of concrete and abstract sentences in bilinguals.Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 20, 179–185.
Mägiste, E. (1980). Memory for numbers in monolinguals and bilinguals.Acta Psychologica, 46, 63–68.
Mägiste, E. (1982a). Automaticity and interference in bilinguals.Psychological Research, 44, 29–43.
Mägiste, E. (1982b). The importance of language strategy in simple arithmetic.Educational Psychology, 2, 159–165.
Paivio, A., & Begg, C. (1981).Psychology of Language, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Paivio, A., & Lambert, W. E. (1981). Dual coding and bilingual memory.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 20, 532–539.
Preston, M. S., & Lambert, W. E. (1969). Interlingual interference in a bilingual version of the Stroop color-word task.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 8, 295–301.
Shiffrin, R. M., & Schneider, W. (1977). Perceptual learning, automatic attending, and a general theory.Psychological Review, 84, 127–190.
Smith, G. J. W., & Nyman, G. E. (1962). The serial color-word test: A summary of results.Psychological Research Bulletin 2, 6. Lund University, Sweden.
Uhlmann, F. W. (1962).Retention of anxiety materials as a function of cognitive style. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Wayne State University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. It was reported in a paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on Psycholinguistics and Foreign Language Learning, Åbo, Finland, October 25–6, 1982.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mägiste, E. Development of intra- and interlingual interference in bilinguals. J Psycholinguist Res 14, 137–154 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067626
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067626