Bilingual advantage for memory of events: Why now you see it, now you don’t?

Abstract

One of the most important findings in relation to bilingual memory has been that of shared conceptual representation and memory storage. The paper in the original volume that is being honoured here was by Jeanette Altarriba. The present contribution shares and celebrates the themes discussed in that paper, and in the spirit of the current special issue, it also highlights something new about bilingual memory that we know now and that we did not know then. The original discussions are extended by shifting the focus onto a less researched domain, namely how multiple factors of language typology, balanced vs. unbalanced proficiency and dual language activation affect bilingual memory for events. This review paper demonstrates that when it comes to the bilingual advantage for memory of witnessed events, it is very much a case of now you see it, now you don’t, and we explain the reasons behind the different outcomes.