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Spatial Memory for Chinese and English

London Business School, NTavassoli{at}London.edu

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.

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 33, No. 4, 415-431 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/00222102033004004


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