On Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:37:13 -0800, Miguel Roig wroteL >[snip] >While we are on the subject of memory, I wonder if anyone >is aware of relevant research (off top of your head) or might >care to speculate about the following.
I'm not aware of relevant research but I may be able to speculate. >I left Cuba at age 14 and, over the years, I seem >to have far fewer memories of people and events of my >childhood years in Cuba than, say, others who were born >in the US and also might have moved to a different state >at approximately the same time period. I can readily identify >a number of factors that could account for these differences, >but what I am most curious about is whether the extent of >my inability to recall earlier material is due to a lack of contextual >sensory cues (visual, auditory) versus to the change in language >dominance that I have experienced over time. Using the encoding specificity principle, the greater the number of cues/stimuli you can reinstate from your original learning conditions, the easier it should be to remember. Cue-dependent forgetting might be operating because trying to recall memories is usually more difficult than processes of recognition. As for language dominance, I am less sure about the effect of this variable though I would not be surprised if there was some interaction between language dominance and ability to remember events (especially if they involved language activities). Consider: Though you are English dominant now, imagine spending some significant amount of time in a Spanish speaking country in South America or Spain (where English would have less of an effect than, say, in Puerto Rico or Mexico). The longer you stay in such a place, the easier it would become to "re-instate" Spanish language cognitive activities, such as using Spanish in one's "inner speech" instead of English. The question then becomes would you be better able to recall memories from your Cuban childhood? I would speculate that maybe it would but I think that the effect would be relatively minor. I think this because though language is an important medium for thought, the meaning we attach to events and such is somewhat language independent and far more dependent upon the cultural and social context in which the language was used. From this perspective, even though you might spend time in a Spanish speaking country, if the social and cultural contexts are different from those of your childhood, the effect of using Spanish would be minimal. Reinstating the social and cultural contexts would have a greater impact than the language. >For example, I seldom think >in Spanish and for many years have not had as many opportunities >to interact in Spanish as I do in English. Obviously, I realize that >sensory contextual cues are very important. For example, I have heard >from a couple of friends who have gone back to visit and were able to >recall/recognize all sorts of people and events during their visit. But, >I wonder to what extent language dominance has also affected my earlier >memories. Certain concepts may exist in one culture but not in another which makes translation of the word associated with that concept difficult (looking at old psychology articles that borrow words/concepts from the German psychological tradition often had this problem, with the objection being that the English translation was an oversimplification). Being English language dominant might affect processing of certain concepts in Spanish culture but this, I think, would be more dependent upon one's familiarity with a specific Spanish culture than being proficient in Spanish. Language dominance, I think, is trumped by cultural dominance, that is, the extent to which one continues to participate in the social and cultural activities of one's youth and whether these are continued into adulthood. Processes of assimilation will lead to cultural dominance in adulthood different from one's cultural dominance in childhood. Unless one works hard at it, it is difficult to become and remain fully bicultural. -Mike Palij New York Unviversity [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Miguel --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
