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Related Experiment Video

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Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

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Published on: April 28, 2016

Do intensive studies of a foreign language improve associative memory performance?

Johan Mårtensson¹, Martin Lövdén

¹Department of Psychology, Lund University Lund, Sweden.

Frontiers in Psychology

|July 9, 2011

Summary

Intensive foreign language study improved associative memory performance in adults. This suggests formal education can enhance cognitive functions, particularly memory, in early adulthood.

Keywords:

associative memory education language transfer

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Neuroscience
Educational Psychology

Background:

Formal education is thought to influence lifelong cognitive development.
Cognitive training can transfer to untrained tasks, indicating direct effects of mental activity on cognitive efficiency.
Despite hippocampal plasticity, associative memory practice has not been known to yield transfer effects.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if intensive foreign language studies, which heavily engage associative memory, can improve associative memory performance.
To determine if such improvements transfer to other cognitive tasks.
To explore the potential of formal education to enhance associative memory in early adulthood.

Main Methods:

A pretest-training-post-test design was employed.
Participants included military conscript interpreters and undergraduate students.
A battery of cognitive tasks was administered to measure performance before and after language training.

Main Results:

Transfer effects were observed from intensive language studies to a face-name associative-memory task.
No significant transfer was found for working memory, strategy-sensitive episodic memory, or fluid intelligence measures.
These findings indicate specific improvements in associative memory capacity.

Conclusions:

Intensive foreign language education can lead to improvements in associative memory performance.
Formal education demonstrates the capacity to enhance specific cognitive functions, like associative memory, in early adulthood.
This study provides initial evidence for plasticity in associative memory during early adulthood through educational interventions.