Temporal and Associative Memory in Chinese and English

Abstract

This article presents a theoretical model that suggests that linguistic differences between Chinese and English have a qualitative effect on the processing of verbal information. A higher degree of phonological processing of English words was hypothesized to result in a superior encoding of temporal information. In contrast, a higher degree of contextual and visual-semantic processing of Chinese words was hypothesized to result in a superior encoding of interitem associative information. These effects were hypothesized to be absent for pictorial information. Two experiments found support for the hypotheses. In a sorting task, native English speakers demonstrated superior temporal memory for English words compared with native Chinese speakers for Chinese words. In a free recall task, native English speakers demonstrated a greater reliance on temporal order in the retrieval of English words, whereas native Chinese speakers demonstrated a greater reliance on semantic associations in the retrieval of Chinese words. In both experiments, cross-cultural differences were absent for semantically equivalent pictorial information. The implications of these memory findings are discussed with respect to the formation of memory-based judgments and the encoding of thematic information in marketing communications.