Abstract:Much recent research in the fields of SLA and Bilingualism has focused on the social, linguistic, and cognitive benefits of bilingualism (Cook, 1997;Bialystok, 2001; Bialystok, 2004;Sanz, 2000;Sanz, 2007). This research has sought to establish the nature of these benefits and the point at which they emerge. Cummins' Threshold Theory posits that these benefits are determined by level of proficiency in both languages (Cummins, 122 Laura Babcock, Elizabeth Krawczyk & Jeffrey Scialabba 1976). This threshold, however, has not been adequately operationalized. Based on the Declarative/Procedural model in L2 speakers (Ullman, 2001a;Ullman, 2005), we hypothesized that the onset of use of procedural memory in both languages marks the emergence of cognitive benefits for bilinguals. In a preliminary attempt to investigate this effect, we measured the verbal and non-verbal memory of participants before and after learning an artificial language to high proficiency. ERP measures were used to determine reliance on procedural memory during L2 language processing. The results indicate that the use of procedural memory during L2 language processing may affect non-verbal memory measures; no effects were found for verbal memory measures. Contrary to the hypothesis, however, the participants who used procedural memory showed lower scores on these measures than those who did not use procedural memory. These results suggest that procedural memory and non-verbal memory may be related.
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