Reading Chinese logographs relies relatively more on visual cognitive processes than does reading alphabetic English words, whereas the latter relies relatively more on phonological cognitive processes. As a consequence of this differential involvement, memory for the spatial location of words learned scattered across a single display was hypothesized to be better for Chinese logographs than for alphabetic English words. This prediction was supported using native speakers and bilinguals. Experiment 1 found that relative to a picture control condition, the spatial location of Chinese logographs was better remembered than the spatial location of alphabetic English words. Experiment 2 replicated this result using nonsense words and abstract symbols. Experiment 3 found that script differences were specific to spatial memory and did not affect the free recall of words. The results suggest that writing systems, which are a core element of many cultures, can affect the representation of verbal information in memory.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Andrade, J. , & Meudell, P. (1993). Is spatial memory encoded automatically in memory?Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Experimental Psychology, 46(A), 365-375.
2.
Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
3.
Biederman, I. , Glass, A. L., & Webb, S. E., Jr. (1973). Searching for objects in real-world scenes. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 92(1), 22-27.
4.
Birdsong, D. , & Molis, M. (2001). On the evidence for maturational constraints in second-language acquisition. Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 235-249.
5.
Brandimonte, M. A. , Hitch, G. J., & Bishop, D. V. M. (1992). Influence of short-term memory codes on visual image processing: Evidence from image transformation tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 18, 157-165.
6.
Byrne, R. M. J. , & Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1989). Spatial reasoning. Journal of Memory and Language, 28, 564-575.
7.
Cheng, C.-M. (1981). Perception of Chinese characters. Acta Psychologica Taiwanica, 23, 137-153.
8.
Donnenwerth-Nolan, S. , Tanenhaus, M. K., & Seidenberg, M. S. (1981). Multiple code activation in word recognition: Evidence from rhyme monitoring. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 7, 170-180.
9.
Gathercole, S. E. , & Baddeley, A. D. (1993). Working memory and language. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
10.
Hung, D. L. , & Tzeng, O. J. L. (1981). Orthographic variations and visual information processing. Psychological Bulletin, 90, 377-414.
11.
Jiang, Y. , Olson, I. R., & Chun, M. M. (2000). Organization of visual short-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 26, 683-702.
12.
Johnson, J. , & Newport, E. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 21, 60-99.
13.
Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1983). Mental models: Towards a cognitive science of language, inference and consciousness. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
14.
Jonides, J. (1995). Working memory and thinking. In E. E. Smith & D. N. Osherson (Eds.), Thinking (pp. 215-265). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
15.
Kosslyn, S. M. (1980). Image and mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
16.
Li, C. , Nuttall, R. L., & Zhao, S. (1999). The effect of writing Chinese characters on success on the Water-Level Task. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30(1), 91-105.
17.
Logie, R. H. (1989). Characteristics of visual short-term memory. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 1, 275-284.
18.
Logie, R. H. (1995). Visuo-spatial working memory. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum.
19.
McCusker, L. X. , Hillinger, M. L., & Bias, R. G. (1981). Phonological recoding and reading. Psychological Bulletin, 89, 217-245.
20.
Metcalfe, J. , Glavanov, D., & Murdock, M. (1981). Spatial and temporal processing in the auditory and visual modalities. Memory & Cognition, 9, 351-359.
21.
Mosteller, F. , & Bush, R. R. (1954). Selected quantitative techniques. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 328-331). Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.
22.
Munnich, E. , Landau, B., & Dosher, B. A. (2001). Spatial language and spatial representation: A cross-linguistic comparison. Cognition, 81, 171-207.
23.
Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations. New York: Oxford University Press.
24.
Park, D. , Puglisi, J. T., & Sovacool, M. (1983). Memory for pictures, words, and spatial location in older adults: Evidence for pictorial superiority. Journal of Gerontology, 38, 582-588.
25.
Parr, W. V. (1992). Delayed matching-to-sample performance as a measure of human visuo-spatial working memory. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 30, 369-372.
26.
Perfetti, C. A. , Bell, L., & Delaney, S. (1988). Automatic phonetic activation in silent word reading: Evidence from backward masking. Journal of Memory and Language, 27, 59-70.
27.
Perfetti, C. A. , & Zhang, S. (1991). Phonological processes in reading Chinese characters. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 17, 633-643.
28.
Pezdek, K. , Roman, Z., & Sobolik, K. G. (1986). Spatial memory for objects and words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 12, 530-537.
29.
Posner, M. I. , & Rossman, E. (1965). Effect of size and location of information transforms upon short-term retention. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70, 496-505.
30.
Schmitt, B. H. , Pan, Y., & Tavassoli, N. T. (1994). Language and consumer memory: The impact of linguistic differences between Chinese and English. Journal of Consumer Research, 21, 419-431.
31.
Shah, P. , & Miyake, A. (1996). The separability of working memory resources for spatial thinking and language processing: An individual differences approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 4-27.
32.
Smith, E. E. , & Jonides, J. (1995). Working memory in humans: Neuropsychological evidence. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 1009-1020). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
33.
Spinks, J. A. , Liu, Y., Perfetti, C. A., & Tan, L. H. (2000). Reading Chinese characters for meaning: The role of phonological information. Cognition, 76, B1-B11.
34.
Tan, L. H. , Liu, H.-L., Perfetti, C. A., Spinks, J. A., Fox, P. T., & Gao, J.-H. (2001). The neural system underlying Chinese logograph reading. NeuroImage, 13, 836-846.
35.
Tavassoli, N. T. (1999). Temporal and associative memory in Chinese and English. Journal of Consumer Research, 26, 170-181.
36.
Tavassoli, N. T. (2001). Color memory and evaluations for alphabetic and logographic brand names. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 7, 104-111.
37.
Tavassoli, N. T. , & Han, J. K. (2001). Scripted thought: Processing Korean Hancha and Hangul in a multimedia context. Journal of Consumer Research, 28, 482-493.
38.
Treisman, A. (1991). Search, similarity, and integration of features between and within dimensions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 17, 652-676.
39.
Ungerleider, L. G. , & Mishkin, M. (1982). Two cortical visual systems. In D. J. Ingle, M. A. Goodale, & R.J.W. Mansfield (Eds.), Analysis of visual behavior (pp. 549-586). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
40.
van Dijk, T. A. , & Kintsch, W. (1983). Strategies of discourse comprehension. New York: Academic Press.
41.
Van Orden, G. C. (1987). A ROWS is a ROSE: Spelling, sound, and reading. Memory & Cognition, 15, 181-198.
42.
Zhou, X. , & Marslen-Wilson, W. (1999). Phonology, orthography, and semantic activation in reading Chinese. Journal of Memory and Language, 41, 579-606.
43.
Zimmer, H. D. (1998). Spatial information with pictures and words in visual short-term memory. Psychological Research, 61, 277-284.
