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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 17, 2025

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Published on: February 26, 2020

Memory for language and modality in bilinguals: Dependencies and frequency effects.

Wendy S Francis¹, Paola A Baca²

¹Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX, 79968, USA. wfrancis@utep.edu.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|July 3, 2025

Summary

Bilinguals better recall word language than modality in episodic memory. Memory for both features improved with lower word frequency, but modality recall was independent of language recall accuracy.

Keywords:

Bilingualism Source memory Word frequency

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Last Updated: Sep 17, 2025

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Published on: February 26, 2020

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Linguistics

Background:

Episodic memory research explores how distinct features of encoded information are retained.
Hierarchically related features like language and sensory modality present a unique challenge for memory encoding and retrieval.
Understanding feature interactions in memory is crucial for models of human cognition.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the encoding of hierarchically related features (language and modality) in episodic memory.
To examine how factors like word frequency and language proficiency influence memory for these features.
To determine the independence and interdependence of language and modality information in memory retrieval.

Main Methods:

Utilizing a within-subjects design with 96 Spanish-English bilingual participants.
Presenting a mixed sequence of visually and auditorily presented English and Spanish words.
Employing picture cues for a recognition memory test assessing recall of language and modality.

Main Results:

Participants demonstrated higher accuracy in recalling word language compared to modality.
Memory performance for both language and modality was enhanced for low-frequency words.
Modality discrimination remained accurate even when language recall was erroneous, indicating separate memory access.

Conclusions:

Episodic memory traces for language and modality are distinctly associated with word-encoding episodes.
Both language and modality memory retrieval are contingent upon the strength of item encoding.
Modality information can be accessed independently of language information within episodic memory.