The role of language proficiency in producing false memories

The Role of Language Proficiency in False Memory: A Mini Review

“…On the one hand, according to FFT, the extraction of gist representations improves throughout development because participants become better in processing word meaning and connecting meaning across different words (Brainerd and Reyna, 2002). Given the parallel between how false memory differ across the proficiency continuum and the developmental trajectory of false memory (e.g., Carneiro and Fernandez, 2010;Arndt and Beato, 2017), this prediction can be used to explain the present results. That is, gist memory would be hindered when processing L2-words as participants have less experience, leading to a decrease in false memories.…”

“…Furthermore, regarding language proficiency, it was difficult to compare this variable across studies due to, first, different facets of bilingual experience being reported (e.g., usage or years of academic training; see Surrain and Luk, 2019). Second, there were differences in language proficiency (see Table 1), with some studies employing highly proficient bilinguals that used both languages in everyday life (e.g., Cabeza and Lennartson, 2005), while others included participants whose only L2 experience was in a classroom setting (e.g., Arndt and Beato, 2017). Third, although most of the studies included young adults (M = 24.04 years across experiments), children were also tested (Howe et al, 2008), possibly leading to age related differences in L1 and L2 proficiency.…”

“…First, beginning with the most common result, the studies that found significantly higher false recognition in L1 than L2 (Anastasi et al, 2005, Experiments 3 and 4;Sahlin et al, 2005;Howe et al, 2008;Arndt and Beato, 2017;Beato and Arndt, 2021) reported that the dominant and non-dominant language were the L1 and L2, respectively. That is, false recognition was higher in the dominant than in the non-dominant language in these studies.…”

“…Lastly, two studies investigated false memories in participants that differed in L2 proficiency (Arndt and Beato, 2017;Beato and Arndt, 2021). Specifically, the authors found that greater language proficiency in the non-dominant language increased false memories.…”

“…Even non-Indo-European languages have been employed to study the associative memory illusion (e.g., Chinese, Chen et al, 2008; Japanese, Kawasaki and Yama, 2006), with a robust false memory effect in all of them. However, false memories have not only been studied in first languages (L1), but also in second languages (L2) with different proficiency levels (e.g., Anastasi et al, 2005;Arndt and Beato, 2017;Beato and Arndt, 2021).…”