Will a Higher Language Proficiency Trigger More False Memories?

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.220131.018How to use a DOI?

Keywords

language proficiency; false memory; DRM paradigm; phonological association; semantic association; bilingualism

Abstract

False memories, defined as an apparent recollection of an event that did not actually occur, have been extensively studied throughout the past three decades. Although many potential causes or risk factors of false memories have been examined, the role that language proficiency might play in producing false memories received little attention. Having noticed this under-explored topic, this paper intends to investigate the impact that language proficiency has on susceptibility to false memories, and hypothesizes that participants with a higher language proficiency would trigger more false recognition. In this study, 101 native Chinese speakers who learned English as a second language were instructed to remember lists of semantically associated words and phonologically associated words in Chinese and English. Their performance on a subsequent recognition memory test was measured in terms of percentage of true recognition and false recognition. Results demonstrated that no significant differences in the mean proportion of false alarms to critical lures were found between English and Chinese. Also, participants with an intermediate proficiency in English produced the most false memories for English critical lures, followed by the high-proficiency group and low-proficiency group. Besides, participants were more likely to falsely recognize semantically associated critical lures when words were studied and tested in Chinese compared to English, but more likely to falsely recognize phonologically associated critical lures when words were studied and tested in English compared to Chinese. Generally, these results supported the role that language proficiency played in producing false memories. However, contrary to the previous hypothesis, an intermediate language proficiency was suggested to elicit more false memories than either a higher proficiency or a lower one. Based on the findings of this study, the biased memories of people, especially the inaccurate eyewitness testimony and unreliable memories of plaintiffs in the legal settings, could be more easily detected so that the possibility of miscarriages of justice would significantly decrease.

Copyright

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.

Open Access

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Chenxi Zhu
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/02/01
TI  - Will a Higher Language Proficiency Trigger More False Memories?
BT  - Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Education, Language and Art (ICELA 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 103
EP  - 108
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220131.018
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.220131.018
ID  - Zhu2022
ER  -