Wang Shinmin, Allen Richard J, Fang Shin-Yi, Li Ping
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 162, Sec.1, Heping E. Rd., Taipei, 106, Taiwan.
School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
Mem Cognit. 2017 Nov;45(8):1371-1383. doi: 10.3758/s13421-017-0731-2.
The ability to create temporary binding representations of information from different sources in working memory has recently been found to relate to the development of monolingual word recognition in children. The current study explored this possible relationship in an adult word-learning context. We assessed whether the relationship between cross-modal working memory binding and lexical development would be observed in the learning of associations between unfamiliar spoken words and their semantic referents, and whether it would vary across experimental conditions in first- and second-language word learning. A group of English monolinguals were recruited to learn 24 spoken disyllable Mandarin Chinese words in association with either familiar or novel objects as semantic referents. They also took a working memory task in which their ability to temporarily bind auditory-verbal and visual information was measured. Participants' performance on this task was uniquely linked to their learning and retention of words for both novel objects and for familiar objects. This suggests that, at least for spoken language, cross-modal working memory binding might play a similar role in second language-like (i.e., learning new words for familiar objects) and in more native-like situations (i.e., learning new words for novel objects). Our findings provide new evidence for the role of cross-modal working memory binding in L1 word learning and further indicate that early stages of picture-based word learning in L2 might rely on similar cognitive processes as in L1.
最近发现，在工作记忆中创建来自不同来源信息的临时绑定表征的能力与儿童单语单词识别的发展有关。当前的研究在成人单词学习背景下探讨了这种可能的关系。我们评估了在学习不熟悉的口语单词与其语义指代之间的关联时，是否会观察到跨模态工作记忆绑定与词汇发展之间的关系，以及在第一语言和第二语言单词学习的实验条件下这种关系是否会有所不同。招募了一组英语单语者，让他们学习24个与熟悉或新颖物体作为语义指代相关联的汉语口语双音节词。他们还完成了一项工作记忆任务，测量他们临时绑定听觉语言和视觉信息的能力。参与者在这项任务上的表现与他们对新颖物体和熟悉物体的单词学习及记忆有着独特的关联。这表明，至少对于口语来说，跨模态工作记忆绑定在类似第二语言的情境（即学习熟悉物体的新单词）和更类似母语的情境（即学习新颖物体的新单词）中可能发挥类似的作用。我们的研究结果为跨模态工作记忆绑定在第一语言单词学习中的作用提供了新的证据，并进一步表明第二语言基于图片的单词学习早期阶段可能依赖于与第一语言类似的认知过程。
