Bilingual Proficiency Effects on Word Recall and Recognition

This study investigates the effects of bilingual proficiency on word recognition and recall across different memory tasks, with a focus on Chinese-English bilinguals. Participants learned lists of words in either their L1 (Chinese) or L2 (English) language while performing a semantic judgment task. Their memory for the learned words was subsequently assessed using three distinct tasks: a word recognition task (Experiment 1), a picture endorsement task (Experiment 2), and a free recall task (Experiment 3). The results revealed a significant L2 advantage in word recognition, as evidenced by higher hit rates, lower false alarm rates, and greater discrimination scores for L2 words. Furthermore, altering the retrieval cues from words to pictures led to a significant decrease in memory performance, but this did not diminish the L2 advantage. However, removing retrieval cues entirely eliminated the L2 advantage: participants demonstrated similar levels of correct recall for both L1 and L2 words, but showed a higher frequency of false recall for L1 words. To account for these dissociations between recall and recognition tasks, a level-based bilingual cognitive efficiency framework was proposed, incorporating factors such as pre-experimental exposure, cognitive resource allocation, the strength of lexical associations, and the demands of retrieval cues.