The effect of memory instructions on within - and between - language false memory

Abstract

We examined the effect of memory instructions on false memory using the Deese/Roediger–McDermott paradigm in second-language learners. Participants studied lists of words in L1 and L2 (e.g., note, sound, piano…) associatively related to a non-presented critical lure (e.g., MUSIC). In a later recognition test, critical lures appeared in the same or the other language of their lists (i.e., within- and between-language conditions). In Experiment 1, participants should only endorse an item when study and test languages matched (i.e., restrictive instructions); that is, they should retrieve language information. In Experiment 2, participants should endorse studied items regardless of the language (i.e., inclusive instructions). With restrictive instructions, false recognition was higher in within- than between-language conditions, whereas with inclusive instructions, this result was replicated only when words were studied in L1, but not L2. Results suggested that second-language learners show false memory in their L2 and that the effect of language shift on false recognition depended on the study language.