The relationship between working memory capacity, bilingualism, and ambiguous relative clause attachment

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Psycholinguistics
• Linguistics

Background:

• Working memory (WM) capacity is crucial for processing complex linguistic structures, including syntactic ambiguities.
• Previous research suggests WM influences how readers resolve ambiguities, such as relative clause attachment.
• The role of WM and language proficiency in resolving these ambiguities across different language backgrounds requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the impact of working memory capacity and language proficiency on relative clause attachment decisions.
• To compare these effects across English monolinguals, Spanish-English heritage bilinguals, and Mandarin-English bilinguals.
• To build upon and test findings from Swets et al. (2007) regarding WM and ambiguity resolution.

Main Methods:

• Binomial logistic regression analyses were employed to analyze attachment preferences.
• Participants included English monolinguals, L1-L2 Spanish-English heritage bilinguals, and L1-L2 Mandarin-English bilinguals.
• The study assessed working memory span and language proficiency in relation to relative clause attachment.

Main Results:

• Low working memory (WM) span was associated with a preference for high attachment of ambiguous relative clauses.
• This finding aligns with previous research but contradicts a simple recency strategy.
• Language proficiency in either L1 or L2 showed minimal effect on attachment preferences.

Conclusions:

• Working memory capacity appears to be a primary determinant of relative clause attachment preferences.
• Language proficiency plays a less significant role than WM capacity in resolving these syntactic ambiguities.
• Attachment preferences are mainly driven by the comprehender's cognitive resources and language-specific processing characteristics.