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False Memories in Bilingual Speakers

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Book cover Foundations of Bilingual Memory

Abstract

Many examples exist in real-world settings that highlight the importance of examining the veracity of recalled memories.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Social Science Building-Room 399, 1400 Washington Avenue, 12222, Albany, NY, USA

    Donald F. Graves & Jeanette Altarriba

Authors
  1. Donald F. Graves
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  2. Jeanette Altarriba
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Communication, Texas A&M International University, Laredo Texas, USA

    Roberto R. Heredia

  2. Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany New York, USA

    Jeanette Altarriba

Appendices

List of Key Words and Concepts

Activation-Monitoring framework, Associative strength, Associative-Activation model, Backward associative strength, Bilingual false memories, Bilingual memory, Critical lure, DRM Paradigm, Episodic memory, Explicit memory, Fan effect, Fuzzy trace theory(FTT), Gist trace, Implicit associate response theory(IAR), Implicit memory, Language dominance, Memory consolidation theory, Memory reconstruction, Multiple trace theory, Schema, Semantic memory, Strength of association

Thought Questions

  1. 1.

    If you are a bilingual speaker, do you think that you tend to remember information in the language in which it was presented, or, do you translate that information at recall? Under what situations or instances would you translate information and do you think that your translations are always accurate representations of the original information? Ask your friends and see what they say, as well.

  2. 2.

    Should theories of how false memories occur depend upon the particular language combination that is under investigation? Suppose that languages differ in terms of their orthography (e.g., Arabic vs. Chinese). Should memory results differ depending on the nature of the languages themselves? Why or why not?

  3. 3.

    Are there any other explanations you can think of for the occurrence of false memory effects both within and between languages? Why might the mind choose to produce information that is not accurate yet is believable and true in many cases?

Applied Issues in Learning and Memory in the Acquisition of an L2 and Vocabulary Learning

As mentioned earlier, the notion of false memories or reconstructed memories plays a significant role any time an individual is questioned regarding his or her memory for a past event. This situation can be highly critical in a court of law or when eyewitnesses are being questioned after having witnessed an event. Does the language in which information is presented influence the level of detail with which that information is recalled? These notions of language dependency play a role in any situation in which individuals are being questioned about the past, whether it is the recent past or the distant past. A setting in which this is most important involves therapeutic or counseling settings in which an individual is asked to discuss past memories, often times, memories from their childhood wherein a language different from the currently used language was the primary language of communication. Investigations into whether a match between language of encoding and language of retrieval facilitates the recall of veridical memories are important across these various settings and situations. With regards to implications for learning a new language, it may be beneficial to tie the new language to a new context or setting such that all of the environmental cues can be encoded with the new language to aid ultimately in retrieval of that language. That is, though we know that false memories tend to be greater in L2 as compared to L1, one way to try to minimize the production of those types of memories in language learning would be to provide an ample set of cues that would make those new memories as distinct as possible.  In doing so, it may be the case that the strength of those new memory traces for L2 vocabulary that has just been learned is robust enough that they can be recalled or recognized with a high degree of accuracy. Methods that focus on the distinctiveness of newly learned vocabulary may ultimately be the key to minimizing false memories in a second or subordinate language.

Suggested Research Projects

  1. 1.

    Prepare various lists of related items that vary in length and examine whether list length effects interact with degree of false memories that are reported. This manipulation can occur within participants, varying the words in the lists so that they are unique across different lengths, or, across participants reusing sets of words across different lengths. Note how veridical memory changes, as well, as a function of list length.

  2. 2.

    Investigate the degree of false memory that occurs for a novel or new list of words that an individual learns in a foreign language, as compared to a list of words in their native language. Can you reproduce an effect of degree of proficiency, as was described earlier within this chapter? That is, do you find that individuals produce more false memories in their dominant versus their subordinate language?

  3. 3.

    Vary the modality in which the lists are presented to investigate whether or not bilingual false memory effects are more or less robust using visual presentations of word lists versus auditory presentations of those same lists. Use two different groups of participants but keep the stimuli the same to allow for comparisons with the same materials across participants. Share those findings with your Professor and your classmates.

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Graves, D., Altarriba, J. (2014). False Memories in Bilingual Speakers. In: Heredia, R., Altarriba, J. (eds) Foundations of Bilingual Memory. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9218-4_10

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