Second Language Use Facilitates Implicit Emotion Regulation via Content Labeling

Abstract

Previous studies reported that negative stimuli induced less affect in bilinguals when stimuli were presented in bilinguals’ second, weaker language (L2) than when they were presented in their native language (L1). This effect of L2 use was attributed to increased emotional distance as well as to increased levels of cognitive control during L2 use. Here we investigated how explicit (cognitive reappraisal, i.e., reinterpreting the meaning of the emotional stimulus to alter its emotional impact) and implicit (content labeling, i.e., categorizing the content of the image; and emotion labeling, i.e., naming the emotion induced by the emotional stimulus) emotion regulation strategies are altered in an L2 (English) context in German native speakers with medium to high proficiency in their L2. While previous studies used linguistic stimuli, such as words, to induce affect, here we used images to test whether reduced affect could also be observed for non-linguistic stimuli when presented in an L2 context. We hypothesized that the previously implicated increase in emotional distance and cognitive control in an L2 would result in an L2 advantage in emotion regulation (i.e., leading to less negative emotions compared to an L1 context), by strengthening the effect of linguistic re-evaluation on the evoked emotions. Using a classic emotion regulation paradigm, we examined changes in subjective emotional state ratings during reappraisal, emotion labeling and content labeling in a L1 and L2 context. We found that the strength of evoked affective responses did not depend on the language context in which an image was presented. Crucially, content labeling in L2 was more effective than in L1, whereas emotion labeling did not differ between languages. Overall, evoked responses were regulated most effectively through explicit emotion regulation (reappraisal) in L1 and L2 context. These results demonstrate an L2 advantage effect for emotion regulation through content labeling and suggest that L2 context alters sub-processes implicated in content labeling but not emotion labeling.

When your heart is in your mouth: the effect of second language use on negative emotions

“…Ochsner & Gross, 2008). As mentioned in the Introduction, a study by Morawetz et al (2017) found that content labelling in the L2 (but not L1) decreased negative emotional reactivity, while emotion labelling in neither L1 nor L2 decreased negative emotions. The authors concluded that no difference in cognitive re-appraisal between L1 and L2 was found, but their results are not contradictory to ours, and can easily be interpreted within a framework of resource allocation.…”

“…Ochsner & Gross, 2005), and whether the cognitive control of switching between languages (or inhibiting the language not in use) can contribute to more adaptive emotion regulation in an L2, as manifested by decreased emotionality in an L2 context. In a recent study, Morawetz, Oganian, Schlickeiser, Jacobs, and Heekeren (2017) measured self-rated emotional responses to negative pictures and found that content labelling (as a means of decreasing negative emotional responses to aversive pictures) in the participants L2 (but not L1) led to decreased distress. Whether this effect was related to cognitive control, per se, remains an open, but interesting question.…”

Foreign Language Processing Undermines Affect Labeling

“…Results supported the detrimental hypothesis. This casts doubts on the usefulness of foreign language in clinical settings to regulate emotional reactions, as has been previously suggested (García-Palacios et al, 2018;Morawetz et al, 2017). Future research should explore under which conditions a foreign language can be used in clinical settings.…”

Reduced language processing automaticity induces weaker emotions in bilinguals regardless of learning context.

“…For instance, reduced emotions in L2 have been inferred from lower-rated introspective feelings (Dewaele, 2008), poorer reactions in emotional word processing (Sianipar, Middelburg, & Dijkstra, 2015) as well as from less biased hypothetical decision-making (Keysar, Hayakawa, & An, 2012). The L2 emotion effect does, however, not occur consistently (Morawetz, Oganian, Schlickeiser, Jacobs, & Heekeren, 2017; Ponari et al, 2015), and there are conflicting explanations for it.…”