Converging evidence suggests that emotions are often dulled in one's foreign language. Here, we paired fMRI with a naturalistic viewing paradigm (i.e., original vs. dubbed versions of sad, fun and neutral movie clips) to investigate the neural correlates of emotion perception as a function of native (L1) and foreign (L2) language context. Watching emotional clips in L1 (vs. L2) reflected in activations of anterior temporal cortices involved in semantic cognition, arguably indicating a closer association of emotion concepts with the native language. The processing of fun clips in L1 (vs. L2) reflected in enhanced response of the right amygdala, suggesting a deeper emotional experience of positively valenced stimuli in the L1. Of interest, the amygdala response to fun clips positively correlated with participants’ proficiency in the L2, indicating that a higher L2 competence may reduce emotional processing differences across a bilingual's two languages. Our findings are compatible with the view that language provides a context for the construction of emotions.

Original language versus dubbed movies: Effects on our brain and emotions / Bellini, C.; Del Maschio, N.; Gentile, M.; Del Mauro, G.; Franceschini, R.; Abutalebi, J.. - In: BRAIN AND LANGUAGE. - ISSN 0093-934X. - 253:(2024). [10.1016/j.bandl.2024.105424]

Original language versus dubbed movies: Effects on our brain and emotions

Bellini C.;Del Maschio N.;Gentile M.;Del Mauro G.;Abutalebi J.
Supervision
2024-01-01

Abstract

Converging evidence suggests that emotions are often dulled in one's foreign language. Here, we paired fMRI with a naturalistic viewing paradigm (i.e., original vs. dubbed versions of sad, fun and neutral movie clips) to investigate the neural correlates of emotion perception as a function of native (L1) and foreign (L2) language context. Watching emotional clips in L1 (vs. L2) reflected in activations of anterior temporal cortices involved in semantic cognition, arguably indicating a closer association of emotion concepts with the native language. The processing of fun clips in L1 (vs. L2) reflected in enhanced response of the right amygdala, suggesting a deeper emotional experience of positively valenced stimuli in the L1. Of interest, the amygdala response to fun clips positively correlated with participants’ proficiency in the L2, indicating that a higher L2 competence may reduce emotional processing differences across a bilingual's two languages. Our findings are compatible with the view that language provides a context for the construction of emotions.
2024
Bilingualism
Emotion
fMRI
Language
Movies
Naturalistic viewing paradigm
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11768/172596
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