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Generally research of this type finds that dual language speakers' remembered details depend on which language they've been primed with (ie made to use or liste

Generally research of this type finds that dual language speakers' remembered details depend on which language they've been primed with (ie made to use or listen to just before the activity). It's also much more subtle than the splashy headlines indicate - it's about which details you're more likely to remember, not some fundamentally different experience of the world.

gumballindie 3y ago
Details are subjective, and that can be influenced by culture and language. For instance if in my culture it's more important to know the colour of your pants then i will remember that. If in your culture the colour of your hat is more important you will remember that. But a person's culture changes, and that person can still speak a particular language but memories be influenced by a different pattern. Correlation and casualisation etc.
- azernik 3y ago
  The evidence from dual language speakers (primed language changing the task performance) suggests it is in fact about the language spoken - these are actual controlled experiments. Small effect sizes and not super interesting effects IMO unless you're doing deep neuroscience stuff on memory and attention, but it's pretty clear language plays a role.
  - yencabulator 3y ago
    Of course the language/culture you're currently using influences things, that just plain makes sense. In English I have to remember & share the gender of the person I am talking about, in my native language I have no need for that. So when I'm using English, I'll probably be more influenced by gender biases.
magicalhippo 3y ago
My dad taught our native language to immigrants. I mentioned to him I'd read about a research paper where they'd conducted an experiment which indicated that toddlers recalled events using the words they knew at the time of the event. That is, if they had played with a ball before they learned the word for ball, they would not use the word ball when they were later asked to recall the play session. My dad responded that it was known within his domain that immigrants who forgot their mother tongue would forget things they learned in their homeland, including stuff they had studied at school or college. This was some 20 years ago, I haven't dug into it since then, but seems unlikely to me that memory and language isn't tightly linked.
- Tryffel 3y ago
  This is super interesting! Got any resources or articles about what your was talking about?
  - magicalhippo 3y ago
    I read about it in American Scientist IIRC, my as for my dad I don't know but he portrayed it more or less as common knowledge in the field. I'll do some digging, check back in a day or two.
  - magicalhippo 3y ago
    After some digging I did indeed find what I believe is the article. As mentioned I read about in American Scientist (IIRC), but based on the abstract this must be it. From the abstract: By the time of the test, children of all ages had acquired most of the vocabulary necessary to describe the target event. Despite this, they did not translate preverbal aspects of their memory into language during the test. In no instance did a child verbally report information about the event that was not part of his or her productive vocabulary at the time of encoding. We conclude that language development plays a pivotal role in childhood amnesia. I also found this follow-up study by someone else[2], again from the abstract: This research suggests that children cannot independently translate preverbal memories into words even with extensive task support. Therefore, language acquisition may indeed play an important role in the offset of childhood amnesia. However this[3] recent paper argues that this effect might only be relevant for strategic recall, where the kid is asked to recall the memory, but not spontaneous recall which happens involuntarily. Of course, I imagine spontaneous recall isn't very useful for recalling what you've studied in your home country... [1]: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00442 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00442 Breaking the Barrier? Children Fail to Translate Their Preverbal Memories into Language [2]: https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/handle/1840.16/1427 https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/handle/1840.16/1427 The Sound Barrier: Two-Year-Old Children's Use of Newly Acquired Words to Describe Preverbal Memories [3]: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2022.101050 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2022.101050 Spontaneous verbal recall: A new look at the mechanisms involved in episodic memory retrieval in young children

gumballindie 3y ago

Details are subjective, and that can be influenced by culture and language. For instance if in my culture it's more important to know the colour of your pants then i will remember that. If in your culture the colour of your hat is more important you will remember that. But a person's culture changes, and that person can still speak a particular language but memories be influenced by a different pattern. Correlation and casualisation etc.

azernik 3y ago
The evidence from dual language speakers (primed language changing the task performance) suggests it is in fact about the language spoken - these are actual controlled experiments. Small effect sizes and not super interesting effects IMO unless you're doing deep neuroscience stuff on memory and attention, but it's pretty clear language plays a role.
- yencabulator 3y ago
  Of course the language/culture you're currently using influences things, that just plain makes sense. In English I have to remember & share the gender of the person I am talking about, in my native language I have no need for that. So when I'm using English, I'll probably be more influenced by gender biases.

magicalhippo 3y ago

My dad taught our native language to immigrants. I mentioned to him I'd read about a research paper where they'd conducted an experiment which indicated that toddlers recalled events using the words they knew at the time of the event. That is, if they had played with a ball before they learned the word for ball, they would not use the word ball when they were later asked to recall the play session. My dad responded that it was known within his domain that immigrants who forgot their mother tongue would forget things they learned in their homeland, including stuff they had studied at school or college. This was some 20 years ago, I haven't dug into it since then, but seems unlikely to me that memory and language isn't tightly linked.

Tryffel 3y ago
This is super interesting! Got any resources or articles about what your was talking about?
- magicalhippo 3y ago
  I read about it in American Scientist IIRC, my as for my dad I don't know but he portrayed it more or less as common knowledge in the field. I'll do some digging, check back in a day or two.
- magicalhippo 3y ago
  After some digging I did indeed find what I believe is the article. As mentioned I read about in American Scientist (IIRC), but based on the abstract this must be it. From the abstract: By the time of the test, children of all ages had acquired most of the vocabulary necessary to describe the target event. Despite this, they did not translate preverbal aspects of their memory into language during the test. In no instance did a child verbally report information about the event that was not part of his or her productive vocabulary at the time of encoding. We conclude that language development plays a pivotal role in childhood amnesia. I also found this follow-up study by someone else[2], again from the abstract: This research suggests that children cannot independently translate preverbal memories into words even with extensive task support. Therefore, language acquisition may indeed play an important role in the offset of childhood amnesia. However this[3] recent paper argues that this effect might only be relevant for strategic recall, where the kid is asked to recall the memory, but not spontaneous recall which happens involuntarily. Of course, I imagine spontaneous recall isn't very useful for recalling what you've studied in your home country... [1]: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00442 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00442 Breaking the Barrier? Children Fail to Translate Their Preverbal Memories into Language [2]: https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/handle/1840.16/1427 https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/handle/1840.16/1427 The Sound Barrier: Two-Year-Old Children's Use of Newly Acquired Words to Describe Preverbal Memories [3]: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2022.101050 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2022.101050 Spontaneous verbal recall: A new look at the mechanisms involved in episodic memory retrieval in young children