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Bilingual long-term working memory: The effects of working memory loads on writingquality and fluency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2001

SARAH RANSDELL ,
M. ROSARIO ARECCO  and
C. MICHAEL LEVY
SARAH RANSDELL
Affiliation:
Florida Atlantic University
M. ROSARIO ARECCO
Affiliation:
Florida Atlantic University
C. MICHAEL LEVY
Affiliation:
University of Florida
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Abstract

In Experiment 1, 42 multilinguals were able to maintain native language writing quality and fluency in the presence of unattended irrelevant speech while maintaining a concurrent 6-digit memory load. In Experiment 2, 80 bilinguals reduced fluency during writing with the 6-digit load only. In previous research, over 100 monolinguals of comparable verbal and nonverbal skills in three experiments reduced quality and fluency under both secondary tasks (Ransdell, Levy, & Kellogg, 1996). The results are interpreted in terms of a bilingual skill advantage in suppressing irrelevant information. Possessing fluency in another language may confer long-term working memory benefits during dual-task language conditions for bilinguals and even more so for multilinguals.

Type
Research Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , March 2001 , pp. 113 - 128
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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