title: Processing advantage for emotional words in bilingual speakers.
abstract: Effects of emotion on word processing are well established in monolingual speakers. However, studies that have assessed whether affective features of words undergo the same processing in a native and nonnative language have provided mixed results: Studies that have found differences between native language (L1) and second language (L2) processing attributed the difference to the fact that L2 learned late in life would not be processed affectively, because affective associations are established during childhood. Other studies suggest that adult learners show similar effects of emotional features in L1 and L2. Differences in affective processing of L2 words can be linked to age and context of learning, proficiency, language dominance, and degree of similarity between L2 and L1. Here, in a lexical decision task on tightly matched negative, positive, and neutral words, highly proficient English speakers from typologically different L1s showed the same facilitation in processing emotionally valenced words as native English speakers, regardless of their L1, the age of English acquisition, or the frequency and context of English use.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Psychology Department, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7658-8360
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ponari
authors.affiliation: Hospital Sant Joan de Déu.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Cuadrado
authors.affiliation: Experimental Psychology Department, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vinson
authors.affiliation: Experimental Psychology Department, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London.
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Experimental Psychology Department, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vigliocco
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D055815:Young Adult