Surviving in a second language: survival processing effect in memory of bilinguals

Human memory likely evolved to serve adaptive functions, that is, to help maximise our chances of survival and reproduction. One demonstration of such adaptiveness is the increased retention of information processed in survival contexts, the so-called Survival Processing Effect (SPE). This study examined this effect in a native (L1) and in a second language (L2). This comparison is relevant to explore if emotionality is involved in the SPE, as emotional activation seems to be larger in L1 than in L2. Following the original survival processing procedure, participants rated the relevance of information to the survival and moving scenarios and performed a recognition (Experiment 1) or a free recall (Experiment 2) task in L1 or L2. In both experiments, the SPE was replicated in L1 but not in L2. The absence of the effect when emotional activation is less likely suggests that emotionality might play a role in the survival processing effect; nevertheless, additional studies are needed to further investigate this hypothesis.

人类记忆的演化大概率以适配生存需求为核心目标，即帮助个体提升生存与繁衍的概率。这类适应性的典型体现，是个体对生存场景中加工信息的记忆保持率显著提升，即所谓的生存加工效应（Survival Processing Effect, SPE）。本研究分别以母语（L1）和第二语言（L2）为实验载体，对该效应展开了验证。该对比实验有助于探究情绪性是否参与了生存加工效应的产生——因已有研究显示，母语场景下的情绪唤醒水平显著高于第二语言场景。本研究沿用经典的生存加工实验范式：让被试对信息在生存与迁居场景下的相关性进行评分，并分别以母语或第二语言完成再认任务（实验1）或自由回忆任务（实验2）。两项实验均发现：生存加工效应在母语场景下得以重复验证，但在第二语言场景中未出现该效应。由于在情绪唤醒程度更低的第二语言场景中该效应并未显现，这提示情绪性或许在生存加工效应中扮演了重要角色；不过，仍需开展更多研究以进一步验证这一假说。