A growing body of evidence demonstrates that individual differences in declarative memory may be an important predictor of second language (L2) abilities. However, the evidence comes from studies using different declarative memory tasks that vary in their reliance on verbal abilities and task demands, which preclude estimating the size of the relationship between declarative memory and L2 learning. To address these concerns, we examined the relationship between verbal and nonverbal declarative memory abilities within the same task while controlling for task demands and stimulus modality, to estimate the upper bound of the relationship between verbal and nonverbal declarative memory. Results indicate that when task demands and stimulus modality are controlled, verbal and nonverbal declarative memory abilities shared a medium-to-large amount of underlying variance. However, future studies should exercise caution in appraising associations between declarative memory abilities and L2 learning until a more precise understanding of the underlying mechanisms is achieved.

越来越多的证据表明，陈述性记忆的个体差异可能是第二语言（L2）能力的重要预测因素。然而，证据来自使用不同陈述性记忆任务的研究，这些任务对语言能力和任务要求的依赖各不相同，这妨碍了估计陈述性记忆和第二语言学习之间关系的大小。为了解决这些问题，我们检查了同一任务中言语和非言语陈述性记忆能力之间的关系，同时控制任务要求和刺激方式，以估计言语和非言语陈述性记忆之间关系的上限。结果表明，当任务要求和刺激方式受到控制时，言语和非言语陈述性记忆能力存在中等到大量的潜在差异。然而，未来的研究应该谨慎评估陈述性记忆能力和第二语言学习之间的关联，直到更准确地理解潜在机制。