ABSTRACT
Bilingual memory has been investigated in large part by building on theoretical and empirical advances in the single-language literature. This chapter focuses on four examples. Bilingual dual coding theory was developed as an extension of a single-language theory. Transfer of learning across languages has been likened to transfer across modalities or across picture and word formats and used for similar reasoning about levels of representation involved. Language proficiency has been likened to functional frequency and shows parallel effects when word form familiarity or associations between words and concepts are important to performance. An associative strength approach to memory was inspired by the associative deficit hypothesis of memory decline in older adulthood. These approaches have allowed advances in our understanding of bilingual memory, but it is also important to recognize limitations.
