Source: UPF.
A study led by the Basque Centre on Cognition, Brain and Language, in collaboration with the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), shows that we think with more coldness in a foreign language than in our mother tongue, and that our actions are less influenced by our emotions when we use a foreign language.
Native languages, points out the UPF in a press note, are generally acquired in emotionally rich contexts, such as the family, while foreign languages are often learnt in school or academic environments with less emotional burden.
In this study, scientists studied if this linguistic and emotional distance is of such significance that it appears even in automatic stages of emotion processing. For that, an experiment was performed with 126 participants whose mother tongue was Spanish. They were also fluent in English. Participants had to take a test of language learning capacity in both languages.
In the aforementioned test, participants were shown different geometric shapes associated to words whose meanings have different degrees of emotional charge as ‘otro’, ‘amigo’ or ‘tú’. The task consisted on memorising to which geometric shape was associated each term. Depending on the group to which participants were assigned, words may be in Spanish or in English (‘you’, ‘friend’, ‘other’).
When passing the Spanish test, the answers of the participants were significantly more accurate and quicker when words were closer to them. That is to say, they made less mistakes and answered quicker when the geometric shape was associated to the word ‘tú’ than when it was associated to the word ‘amigo’. At the same time, there were more correct answers with the word ‘amigo’ than with ‘other’.
However, when they took the test in English, the results were much similar among the different kind of terms. The emotional implications of each word had less influence, although the words were conceptually equivalent.
Native languages, points out the UPF in a press note, are generally acquired in emotionally rich contexts, such as the family, while foreign languages are often learnt in school or academic environments with less emotional burden.
In this study, scientists studied if this linguistic and emotional distance is of such significance that it appears even in automatic stages of emotion processing. For that, an experiment was performed with 126 participants whose mother tongue was Spanish. They were also fluent in English. Participants had to take a test of language learning capacity in both languages.
In the aforementioned test, participants were shown different geometric shapes associated to words whose meanings have different degrees of emotional charge as ‘otro’, ‘amigo’ or ‘tú’. The task consisted on memorising to which geometric shape was associated each term. Depending on the group to which participants were assigned, words may be in Spanish or in English (‘you’, ‘friend’, ‘other’).
When passing the Spanish test, the answers of the participants were significantly more accurate and quicker when words were closer to them. That is to say, they made less mistakes and answered quicker when the geometric shape was associated to the word ‘tú’ than when it was associated to the word ‘amigo’. At the same time, there were more correct answers with the word ‘amigo’ than with ‘other’.
However, when they took the test in English, the results were much similar among the different kind of terms. The emotional implications of each word had less influence, although the words were conceptually equivalent.
English
