Bilingual memory revisited (again)

The question of how a bilingual's two languages are represented in memory has been heavily debated in the bilingualism literature. Under this debate, there has been seemingly contradictory experimental evidence for both the interdependent (shared) and independent (separate) views of bilingual memory. In Harris' (1992) seminal volume on Bilingual Cognitive Processing , it was pointed out that bilingual memory effects may be dependent on the task demands imposed by different psycholinguistic tasks. In the 30 years since, critical advancements in statistical analysis methods and increased accessibility of research tools have allowed bilingual researchers to better understand the specific processes engaged in response to different types of memory tasks. The goal of this review is to highlight recent behavioral and brain research findings addressing issues in bilingual memory. We further underscore the importance of considering task demands in the assessment of bilingual memory and summarize what these considerations mean in the context of the leading models of bilingual memory. Finally, we present a testable mediation model accounting for core bilingual representational issues between conceptual and lexical memory. • Different psycholinguistic tasks tap different specific, measurable processes • Depth of spread of activation may influence differences in lexical associations • Language networks may be differentially linked based on language background factors