12. Language-specific effects on lexicalisation and memory of motion events

Luna Filipović | University of East Anglia

Sharon Geva | University College London

We studied language as a factor in the construal of dynamic spatial relations, and addressed the question of whether different languages can have different effects on memory of motion events. In the “motion condition”, speakers had to describe what the person did in each video, while in the “colour condition”, speakers had to describe only the colours they noticed in the clips. English speakers showed better recognition of the motion event when asked to describe them directly (compared with the colour condition), and Spanish speakers performed equally on both conditions, with their performance being similar to the English speaker’s performance on the colour condition. We discuss the implications of these results for language processing and for memory of events.

Keywords: colour, language effect, manner of motion, recognition memory

Published online: 24 July 2012
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.37.18fil

Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Filipović, Luna

2018. Speaking in a second language but thinking in the first language: Language-specific effects on memory for causation events in English and Spanish. International Journal of Bilingualism 22:2 ► pp. 180 ff.

Rojo, Ana & Paula Cifuentes-Férez

2017. In Motion and Space across Languages [Human Cognitive Processing, 59], ► pp. 367 ff.

Wang, Yi & Li Wei

2021. Cognitive restructuring in the multilingual mind: language-specific effects on processing efficiency of caused motion events in Cantonese–English–Japanese speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition ► pp. 1 ff.

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