The research focuses on the effects of culture on cognition, specifically the effects of change of culture (migration) on the distribution of memories across the lifespan. Subjects are bilingual/bicultural Puerto Ricans who have migrated permanently to anglo environments in the U.S. after growing up on Puerto Rico. Methods of cued recall will be used to test for: (1) a diminished fund of memories for events prior to migration, (2) differential access to memories according to cuing in the mother tongue or second language, and (3) a new concentration of memories (""""""""reminiscence bump"""""""") corresponding to the development of a new identify as a result of migration. Content analysis of memories recorded by subjects will be used to test for memory vividness and to extract cultural and ethnopsychological themes.
