Chunking Capabilities in Bilingual Spanish-English Speakers

Presentation Type

Poster

Faculty Advisor

Lauren Covey

Access Type

Event

Start Date

26-4-2023 9:45 AM

End Date

26-4-2023 10:44 AM

Description

This project is part of a large-scale study that investigates the linguistic and cognitive abilities of Spanish-English bilingual speakers. Data was collected from 55 participants who performed a variety of tasks. The focus of this presentation is to examine the relationship between bilinguals’ “chunking abilities” in both of their languages. Chunking is a cognitive ability that involves memorizing small sets of information that are part of a larger set. Memorizing phone numbers which are not presented as a string of 10 digits but ‘chunked’ into three distant groups is considered chunking. Research suggests that chunking may play a role in language processing, and in this study, we assess chunking using English and Spanish tasks. Data from 15 participants has been analyzed so far, with expected analysis completion by April 1. So far, results reveal a wide range of chunking scores in participants, with the overall group mean higher in English (M=35.8%) and Spanish with (M=25.5%). Initial results reveal an inverse relationship between the two scores. This indicates that there is some sort of trade-off with participants’ cognitive resources being more dominant in one of their languages. Specifically, participants who scored well in English tasks, did not score as well in Spanish tasks, and vice versa. For the presentation, we will aim to investigate the source of underlying variability in the chunking scores. With data collected from background questionnaires, in addition to sources from linguistic (vocabulary scores) and cognitive tasks (working memory), we will investigate whether language/family history play a role.

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Apr 26th, 9:45 AM Apr 26th, 10:44 AM

Chunking Capabilities in Bilingual Spanish-English Speakers

This project is part of a large-scale study that investigates the linguistic and cognitive abilities of Spanish-English bilingual speakers. Data was collected from 55 participants who performed a variety of tasks. The focus of this presentation is to examine the relationship between bilinguals’ “chunking abilities” in both of their languages. Chunking is a cognitive ability that involves memorizing small sets of information that are part of a larger set. Memorizing phone numbers which are not presented as a string of 10 digits but ‘chunked’ into three distant groups is considered chunking. Research suggests that chunking may play a role in language processing, and in this study, we assess chunking using English and Spanish tasks. Data from 15 participants has been analyzed so far, with expected analysis completion by April 1. So far, results reveal a wide range of chunking scores in participants, with the overall group mean higher in English (M=35.8%) and Spanish with (M=25.5%). Initial results reveal an inverse relationship between the two scores. This indicates that there is some sort of trade-off with participants’ cognitive resources being more dominant in one of their languages. Specifically, participants who scored well in English tasks, did not score as well in Spanish tasks, and vice versa. For the presentation, we will aim to investigate the source of underlying variability in the chunking scores. With data collected from background questionnaires, in addition to sources from linguistic (vocabulary scores) and cognitive tasks (working memory), we will investigate whether language/family history play a role.