Foreign language modulates brain activity and connectivity during emotional text reading
Poster No:
1009
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Tatiana Davydova1, César Ávila1, Lidón Marin Marin1, María Baena Pérez1, Eva Calderón Rubio1, Víctor Costumero1
Institutions:
1Jaume I University, Castellón de la Plana, Spain
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Reduced emotional resonance during second language (L2) processing is a well-established phenomenon (Caldwell-Harris, 2014) that has been demonstrated across different research modalities, including skin conductance (Harris & Berko Gleason, 2003), pupillary response (Iacozza et al., 2017), electroencephlography (EEG) (Chen et al., 2015; Opitz & Degner, 2012), and functional neuroimaging studies (Chen et al., 2015). However, most of the research has focused on single word processing, with only one neuroimaging study existing currently that studied L1/L2 emotional processing differences during silent reading of more complex verbal stimuli (Hsu et al., 2015). Thus, further research is needed to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying differences in brain activity during emotional reading in L2. In this fMRI study, a group of unbalanced Spanish (L1)/ English (L2) bilinguals completed a bilingual silent reading task of negative, positive, and neutral texts selected from multiple fiction books. The analysis centered on studying the interaction effect of language and condition upon whole-brain activity, as well as on the functional connectivity patterns between the areas involved in semantic and emotional processing.
Methods:
Twenty-four (24) unbalanced Spanish (L1) / English (L2) bilinguals were included in this study (11 females, mean age = 22.46, sd = ± 3.4). Assessment of English proficiency was carried out by way of the LexTALE vocabulary test (Lemhöfer & Broersma, 2012) with mean score = 69.95, (sd = ± 6.63). Each participant read a series of negative, positive, and neutral texts in their L1 and L2 during the scan. Structural 3D and functional EPI sequences were acquired on a 3T GE Signa-Architect scanner. Functional data was pre-processed according to the standard pipeline using SPM12 (Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, London, UK). Group analyses centered on investigating the interaction effect between language and condition on neural activity and seed-to-seed functional connectivity between the areas involved in semantic (temporal lobe) and emotional (amygdala, hippocampus) processing.
Results:
Our results showed a significant language/condition interaction on the activity of the left hippocampus during the processing of negative texts (P = .013, FWE cluster-corrected, with a height threshold of P < .001) driven by higher activity during the processing of negative texts in L1, as evidenced by post-hoc analysis. Furthermore, our seed-to-seed connectivity analysis showed significant language/condition interaction effect on the functional connectivity between the left middle temporal pole and the right nucleus accumbens (F = 4.99, P = .036) during the processing of positive texts and between the left superior temporal pole and the left amygdala (F = 6.09, P = .021) during the processing of negative texts.
Conclusions:
Our results provide further evidence of attenuated emotional response in L2 as seen by the lower activity in the left hippocampus during the processing of negative texts in the second language. Furthermore, we found language and condition interaction effect on the functional connectivity between the semantic and emotional processing areas. During the processing of positive texts, this effect was seen in the connectivity between the left middle temporal pole and the nucleus accumbens, an area that plays an important role in the processing of rewards and has been reported to activate in response to positive verbal stimuli (Hamann & Mao, 2002), whereas with the negative texts, this effect was seen in the connectivity between the left superior temporal pole and the left amygdala, the region involved in the processing of negative verbal stimuli (Nakic et al., 2006).
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Emotional Perception 2
Language:
Language Comprehension and Semantics 1
Keywords:
Emotions
Language
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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