Does using a foreign language reduce mental imagery?

Brain-computer interfaces and human factors: the role of language and cultural differences-Still a missing gap?

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) aim at the non-invasive investigation of brain activity for supporting communication and interaction of the users with their environment by means of brain-machine assisted technologies. Despite technological progress and promising research aimed at understanding the influence of human factors on BCI effectiveness, some topics still remain unexplored. The aim of this article is to discuss why it is important to consider the language of the user, its embodied grounding in perception, action and emotions, and its interaction with cultural differences in information processing in future BCI research. Based on evidence from recent studies, it is proposed that detection of language abilities and language training are two main topics of enquiry of future BCI studies to extend communication among vulnerable and healthy BCI users from bench to bedside and real world applications. In addition, cultural differences shape perception, actions, cognition, language and emotions subjectively, behaviorally as well as neuronally. Therefore, BCI applications should consider cultural differences in information processing to develop culture- and language-sensitive BCI applications for different user groups and BCIs, and investigate the linguistic and cultural contexts in which the BCI will be used.

Influence of Social Distance on Foreign Language Effect in Moral Judgment

Previous research has shown that moral choice depends on language, a phenomenon known as the moral foreign language effect (mFLE). The current study examines the influence of social distance on the mFLE. In Experiment 1, 200 participants were randomly assigned to either close or distant social distance in English or Chinese. In Experiment 2, 188 participants were randomly assigned to either English or Chinese and were presented with eight moral dilemmas, each with five different levels of social distance. After reading the dilemma, participants made a choice on a binary scale (Yes/No) in both Experiments 1 and 2 or on a more sensitive 100-point scale in Experiment 2. The results showed that the mFLE was present in distant social distance but absent in close social distance. Finally, a meta-analysis of the results from both studies confirmed the effect of social distance on the mFLE. These findings demonstrate that social distance might play an important role in moderating the mFLE in moral judgment.

The right superior temporal gyrus plays a role in semantic-rule learning: Evidence supporting a reinforcement learning model

In real-life communication, individuals use language that carries evident rewarding and punishing elements, such as praise and criticism. A common trend is to seek more praise while avoiding criticism. Furthermore, semantics is crucial for conveying information, but such semantic access to native and foreign languages is subtly distinct. To investigate how rule learning occurs in different languages and to highlight the importance of semantics in this process, we investigated both verbal and non-verbal rule learning in first (L1) and second (L2) languages using a reinforcement learning framework, including a semantic rule and a color rule. Our computational modeling on behavioral and brain imaging data revealed that individuals may be more motivated to learn and adhere to rules in an L1 compared to L2, with greater striatum activation during the outcome phase in the L1. Additionally, results on the learning rates and inverse temperature in the two rule learning tasks showed that individuals tend to be conservative and are reluctant to change their judgments regarding rule learning of semantic information. Moreover, the greater the prediction errors, the greater activation of the right superior temporal gyrus in the semantic-rule learning condition, demonstrating that such learning has differential neural correlates than symbolic rule learning. Overall, the findings provide insight into the neural mechanisms underlying rule learning in different languages, and indicate that rule learning involving verbal semantics is not a general symbolic learning that resembles a conditioned stimulus-response, but rather has its own specific characteristics.

Read and Imagine: Visual Imagery Experience Evoked by First versus Second Language

This research examined visual imagery evoked during reading in relation to language. Following the previous reports that bilinguals experience less vivid imagery in their second language (L2) than first language (L1), we studied how visual imagery is affected by the language in use, characteristics of text, and readers' individual differences. In L1 and L2, 382 bilinguals read object texts describing pictorial properties of objects such as color and shape, spatial texts describing spatial properties such as spatial relations and locations, and excerpts from novels. They rated imagery vividness after each segment and the whole text, and rated the specific imagery characteristics (e.g., color, spatial relations). Regardless of the types of text or the timing of rating, the vividness of imagery was higher in L1 than in L2. However, English proficiency also predicted vividness in L2. Further, vividness in the object and spatial trials were predicted by the individual's object and spatial imagery skills. The effect of language on imagery depends on the text nature and difficulty, when and how vividness is measured, and individual differences.

Reduced vividness of emotional memories following reactivation in a second language

We investigated the effect of second language use on the experienced vividness and emotionality of negative autobiographical memories. Fifty native Swedish speakers with English as their second language were asked to recall a negative episodic memory from their past in their native language. Half the participants were then asked to reactivate the same memory in their first language while the other half were asked to reactivate it in their second language, and then rate their experienced vividness and emotionality a second time. Following this reactivation, experienced emotionality was reduced for both groups of participants, with a similar magnitude of reduction for both groups. Experienced vividness, however, was only reduced for the group who reactivated the memory in their second language. No difference in intrusion frequency was found between the groups at a one-week follow-up. The results provide increased insight into how a second language can affect the experienced emotionality and vividness of a negative autobiographical memory.

Neural substrates of the interplay between cognitive load and emotional involvement in bilingual decision making

Prior work has reported that foreign language influences decision making by either reducing access to emotion or imposing additional cognitive demands. In this fMRI study, we employed a cross-task design to assess at the neural level whether and how the interaction between cognitive load and emotional involvement is affected by language (native L1 vs. foreign L2). Participants completed a Lexico-semantic task where in each trial they were presented with a neutrally or a negatively valenced word either in L1 or L2, either under cognitive load or not. We manipulated cognitive load by varying the difficulty of the task: to increase cognitive demands, we used traditional characters instead of simplified ones in L1 (Chinese), and words with capital letters instead of lowercase letters in L2 (English). After each trial, participants decided whether to take a risky decision in a gambling game. During the Gamling task, left amygdala and right insula were more activated after having processed a negative word under cognitive load in the Lexico-semantic task. However, this was true for L1 but not for L2. In particular, in L1, cognitive load facilitated rather than hindered access to emotion. Further suggesting that cognitive load can enhance emotional sensitivity in L1 but not in L2, we found that functional connectivity between reward-related striatum and right insula increased under cognitive load only in L1. Overall, results suggest that cognitive load in L1 can favor access to emotion and lead to impulsive decision making, whereas cognitive load in L2 can attenuate access to emotion and lead to more rational decisions.

Is Complex Visual Information Implicated During Language Comprehension? The Case of Cast Shadows

Previous research showed that sensorimotor information affects the perception of properties associated with implied perceptual context during language comprehension. Three experiments addressed a novel question of whether perceptual context may contribute to a simulation of information about such out-of-sight objects as cast shadows. In Experiment 1, participants read a sentence that implied a particular shadow cast on a target (blinds vs. an open window) and then verified the picture of the object onto which a shadow was cast. Responses were faster when the shadow of blinds cast on the object matched that implied by the sentence. However, the data did not show the same matching effect for pictures with cast shadows from an open window. In Experiments 2 and 3, we found that verification times for pictures with no cast shadows were faster when preceded by an "open window" sentence, thus suggesting that reading the sentence does not elicit a visual simulation of any specific shadow. Experiment 3 showed that the objects superimposed with a cast shadow of the blinds and blinds themselves were verified faster after reading a "blinds" sentence. However, the results of an order analysis showed the temporal stability of the "blinds shadows" effect, but the disappearance of the "blinds" effect in the second half of the data. We conclude that the results are compatible, to a lesser or greater extent, with multiple accounts, and discuss our findings in the context of a mental imagery view, a mental simulation view, and an amodal representation view.