Abstract
This chapter reviews some of the major theoretical approaches to encoding (e.g., levels of processing, the generation, distributed-practice, and repetition effects) and retrieval (e.g., encoding specificity principle and transfer appropriate processing) in bilingual episodic memory. An overview of the published findings suggests that, like the classic monolingual general findings, bilingual retrieval is enhanced by such factors as deep processing, elaboration, distinctiveness, and spaced practice repetitions, as opposed to shallow processing and massed repetitions. Moreover, there is a propensity for between-language conditions (i.e., translations) to enhance memory retrieval, relative to within-language conditions (i.e., monolingual conditions), suggesting that translations are more distinctive and require more mental effort and mental elaboration. Bilingual memory retrieval appears to be language-dependent, and retention is enhanced to the extent to which the retrieval contextual properties (i.e., language) and processes (i.e., perceptual vs. semantic) match those employed during the encoding process. Bilingual memory effects are related to existing bilingual models, and methodological and empirical concerns are discussed and underscored.
Keywords
Creo que venimos a este mundo nada más para aprender y sin pensarlo tarde o temprano alguien … [nos] lo hará entender
(Marco Antonio Solis).
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Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Catherine L. Caldwell-Harris for comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper.
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Heredia, R.R., García, E.A. (2017). Bilingual Episodic Memory Processes. In: Ardila, A., Cieślicka, A., Heredia, R., Rosselli, M. (eds) Psychology of Bilingualism. The Bilingual Mind and Brain Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64099-0_6
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