Does the language in which aversive stimuli are presented affect their processing?

Abstract

A popular theme in the literature on bilingualism is that emotions are stronger if experienced in the dominant language. Substantiation of this phenomenon, however, mostly relies on anecdotes and subjective ratings. This study aimed to determine whether evidence of the phenomenon could be provided by measures of processing efficiency and arousal during online language processing. Students for whom English and Spanish coexist, albeit English is dominant in their academic and occupational lives, read aloud taboo and neutral words in either language while skin conductance measurement appraised arousal. Overall, Spanish was processed less efficiently and yielded greater arousal than English, suggesting a more effortful analysis of Spanish. Processing efficiency and arousal were greater for taboo than neutral words presented in English but not Spanish. Frequent use of a language can make processing not only less effortful but also likely to reflect emotional responses to aversive/threatening stimuli. © The Author(s) 2011.