The word order of languages predicts native speakers’ working memory

Amici, Federica; Sánchez-Amaro, Alex; Sebastián‐Enesco, Carla; Cacchione, Trix; Allritz, Matthias; Salazar-Bonet, Juan; Rossano, Federico

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-37654-9

Cited by 43 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…First, we aimed to design the naturalistic utterance recall measure such that a similar test could easily (either automatically or with minimal researcher input) be created for other languages. Given studies suggesting that working memory abilities are affected by the nature of individual languages (Amici et al., 2019; MacDonald & Christiansen, 2002), including in L2 contexts (Van den Noort, Bosch, & Hugdahl, 2006), we administered recall tasks in both L2 (Spanish) and L1 (English). We therefore expected that Spanish L2 recall would be a better predictor of proficiency (measured via our translation test) than English L1 recall.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Utterance Recall to Assess Second Language Proficiency

2020

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Obtaining quick and reliable evidence regarding the proficiency of learners is a perennial issue in second language (L2) learning research. In this study, we examined naturalistic utterance recall as a measure of L2 learning proficiency that can be easily extracted from videos and automatically scored using the video's captions. In our recall task, learners listen to audio clips and write down as much of the utterance as they can remember. We evaluated this naturalistic recall task with a sample of English native speakers who are learning Spanish at beginner to advanced levels, as well as Spanish native speakers. The results suggest that our recall measure is a better predictor of a learner's ability to translate heard sentences than a shortened version of a standardized listening multiple‐choice comprehension test. Our findings suggest naturalistic utterance recall can offer an accurate and efficient method for predicting foreign language proficiency.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Utterance Recall to Assess Second Language Proficiency

2020

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“…Finally, concerning the advantage in terms of working memory, some studies showed that different syntactic structures could induce some particularities in terms of the way we maintain information. For example, Amici et al (2019) showed that the syntax and word order of a language predicts the way we remember verbal and non-verbal stimuli in working memory tasks. In their study, a series of stimuli were presented to participants who spoke either a language with a head-final syntactic structure (e.g., Japanese, Korean.…”

Section: The Linguistic Characteristics Of the Languages At Stakementioning

confidence: 99%

Exploration of Attentional and Executive Abilities in French-Speaking Children Immersed in Dutch Since 1, 2, 3, and 6 Years

2020

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Advantages in diverse aspects of cognitive functioning have been reported in early bilinguals (Bialystok, 2011) as well as in children frequenting an early bilingual immersion school program (Nicolay and Poncelet, 2015). However, during the last decade, some studies failed to replicate these advantages. Currently, the presence of cognitive benefits in children frequenting an immersion program remains debated. The lack of consistency between the studies could come from the fact that time spent by children within the immersion program is variable from one study to the other and that studies used different tasks to assess the same cognitive function. The main aim of the present study was to determine how time spent in immersion affects the emergence of cognitive advantages along the primary schooling. We compared 196 immersed Dutch-speaking children since they were 5 years old and 195 non-immersed French-speaking children, from different grades of the primary schooling (i.e., at 6, 7, 8, and 12 years old) by using the same attentional and executive tasks as those used in previous studies having shown a bilingual advantage. Furthermore, these groups were matched on a set of variables known to influence cognitive functioning. After 1, 2, and 3 years of enrolment in this program, performances of immersed compared to non-immersed children did not differ for any task. However, after 6 years, immersed children outperformed non-immersed children on the cognitive flexibility and the working memory tasks. These results show that, in French-speaking children immersed in Dutch, cognitive advantages could depend on the length of time spent in immersion since they are not present at the beginning (after 1, 2, and 3 years) but seem to emerge at the end of it (after 6 years). In contrast, in previous studies conducted in English immersion, advantages appear at the beginning of the primary schooling but are absent at the end of it. Furthermore, these results suggest that the emergence of cognitive advantages may vary depending on the second language learned. The results are discussed in terms of linguistic characteristics and status of the languages at stake.

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“…Likewise, computational modeling, experimental work with human learners, and language emergence in certain cultural contexts (like the homesigns developed by isolated deaf communities) have shown that core properties of language, such as duality of pattern or compositionality, can emerge by iterated learning and cultural transmission (Sandler et al, 2005;Tamariz and Kirby, 2016) and that the same cognitive and biological biases can result in different language features in different cultural environments (Thompson et al, 2016). Increasingly, however, evidence suggests that language structure also impacts on basic cognitive abilities, such as effects of word order on working memory (Amici et al, 2019). As a consequence, language features, language learning, and cognitive architecture comprise a reinforcing feedback loop (Deacon, 2003;Clarke and Heyes, 2017), wherein genetic changes occurred to accommodate language-specific cognition (Jablonka et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%