In our physical environment as well as in many experimental paradigms, we need to decide whether an occurring stimulus is relevant to us or not; further, stimuli have uneven probabilities to emerge. Both, decision making and the difference between rare and frequent stimuli (oddball effect) are described to affect pupil dilation. Surprisingly though, conjoint systematic pupillometric investigations into both factors are still rare. In two experiments, both factors as well as their interplay were investigated. Participants completed a sequential letter matching task. In this task, stimulus probability and letter matching (decision making) were manipulated independently. As dependent variables, pupil dilation and reaction time were assessed. Results suggest a clearly larger pupil dilation for target than for distractor letters, even when targets were frequent and distractors rare. When considering the data structure best, no main effect of stimulus probability was found, instead, oddball effects only emerged when stimuli were goal-relevant to participants. The results are discussed in the light of common theoretical concepts of decision making and stimulus probability. Finally, relating theories of each factor, we propose an integrated framework for effects of decision making and stimulus features on pupil dilation. We assume a sequential mechanism during which incoming stimuli are decided upon regarding their goal relevance and, about 200 ms later, relevant stimuli are appraised regarding their value.

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Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: Currently available data show mixed results as to whether emotional resonance is stronger for words expressed in the mother tongue (L1) compared to a second language, acquired later in life (L2). One reason for these discrepancies could be differential effects of individuals’ L2 learning history. We introduce an experimental paradigm that is sufficiently robust for testing outside the laboratory to reach a more diverse population. We illustrate this paradigm using 24 well-characterized Russian (L1)–German (L2) bilingual migrants. Design/methodology/approach: The paradigm consists of displaying an array of random letters that may contain a word, which participants must identify. Stimuli are displayed until response and the proportion of correct identification is used as dependent measure. Performance for neutral words is contrasted to swear or taboo words. Data and analysis: The interplay between language and word type is assessed with a 2 × 2 within subjects ANOVA. Findings/conclusions: At the group level, a swear or taboo word superiority in L1 and its absence in L2 is observed. At the individual level, however, the data show a clear divide depending on the age of arrival at the L2 country. Participants who arrived after mid-adolescence show a clear language effect. By contrast, individuals who arrived earlier, present a swear or taboo word superiority in either L1, L2, or in both languages. The age of arrival should therefore be regarded as a critical variable and averaging over bilinguals with different ages of arrival can distort the results depending on the relative size of the respective groups. Originality: The representativeness of test subjects is constrained by the availability of participants at the testing site. Testing outside the laboratory, at home or online, allows reaching larger and/or target populations. Significance/implications: By removing constraints on the availability of bilingual participants, our paradigm enables refined insights into how emotion shapes language processing.

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