Volume 53, Issue 1 - Special issue: “Linguistic takes on the mind and brain: Cognitive, neuro- and psycholinguistic perspectives”: Guest-edited by Dorota Jaworska-Pasterska and Ewa Tomczak

Recent years have witnessed revival of academic interest in the study of two areas. One is related to processing of emotional input, both linguistic and nonlinguistic; the other is centred on mechanisms underlying bilingual language comprehension and production. The current volume comprises substantial contributions by researchers working within various fields of linguistics and psychology. The Authors elaborate upon cognitively sophisticated frameworks for conceptualising the complexities of attitudes towards and beliefs about language, i.e. language regard (Preston 2010), and for explaining how affective processing interacts with linguistic performance (Sharwood Smith and Truscott 2014). Affective processing is further explored by Kissler and Strehlow (this volume), who offer a neurophysiological account of the interplay of emotionally charged language and non-linguistic behaviour. Further experimental evidence on language processing is provided by Cieślicka et al. (this volume), who investigate the effects of factors determining patterns in figurative language processing in bilinguals. Vital factors playing a role in bilingual language processing are also discussed at length in the final contribution to the volume (Jankowiak and Rataj, this volume), which, once again, takes a neurophysiological perspective. Together, the presented accounts offer complementary views on the intricacies of linguistic and affective processing and their interactions in monolingual and bilingual populations.

This paper explores the cognitive foundations of language attitudes, metalinguistic beliefs about language, and language ideologies, all taken as examples of “language regard”. It first models input, processing, and response and then offers experimental evidence for the proposed model.

The way in which affective processing influences the use and development of language in both monolinguals and multilinguals requires a theoretical apparatus that draws on and integrates research in different areas of cognitive science. The Modular Online Growth and Use of Language aims to provide researchers with just such a service. In the contribution that follows, a number of examples will be provided to demonstrate how this conceptual framework can be implemented in order to bring some clarity to our understanding of affective processing. These examples, which cover much more than affect as consciously experienced emotion, include a range of apparently heterogenous phenomena namely (a) how affect influences code selection either within a language, such as when choosing between a formal and informal style or, in the case of bi/multilingualism, choosing between languages, (b) how affective processing subtly influences semantic judgements, (c) how heritage language use can be explained and finally d) the role of affect in language acquisition and attrition.

Language can serve to constrain cognitive and emotional representations. Here, we investigate to what extent linguistic emotional information alters processing of faces with neutral expressions. Previous studies have shown that cortical processing of emotional faces differs from that of neutral faces. Electroencephalography (EEG) has revealed emotion effects for early and late event-related potentials (ERPs) such as the N1, the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) and the Late Positive Potential (LPP). In order to study the effect of language information on face processing, 30 negative and 30 neutral descriptive phrases were presented, each followed by a neutral expression face. Participants were instructed to remember the association. We analyzed the immediate effect of information type on face processing during encoding as well as delayed effects during subsequent recognition. During encoding, faces following negative language information elicited a larger left frontal positivity between 500–700 ms after stimulus onset. During recognition, a left centro-parietal LPP was likewise increased for faces previously associated with a negative description. In addition, the parietal old/new effect was significantly increased for faces with negative information compared to new ones, while no significant effect was observed for faces with neutral information. No information effects on early perceptual ERPs (N1, EPN) were found. Reaction times (RTs) for source memory decisions (negative versus neutral) were significantly shorter for faces with negative versus neutral information. In sum, ERP results indicate that emotional significance can be linguistically induced in faces on a cortical level and, at least in an explicit memory task, this information modulates later stages of face processing and memory. Implications for cognitive effects of public media design are discussed.

The purpose of the experiments reported here is to explore the effects of task (implicit vs. explicit) on the activation of literal and figurative meanings of English idiomatic expressions in the course of their processing by Spanish–English bilinguals varying along their dominance in English or Spanish. Two experiments were carried out using a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task: an implicit lexical decision task and an explicit meaningfulness judgment task. Stimuli included literally plausible English idioms (e.g. kick the bucket , which has both a figurative meaning – ‘to die’, and a literal interpretation – ‘to strike a pail with one’s foot’). Mixed Linear Model analyses were conducted on the lexical decision and meaningfulness judgment data, with context (literal vs. figurative vs. control) and target type (literal vs. figurative) as within-subject factors, and bilingual dominance (Spanish-dominant vs. English-dominant) as a between-subject factor. Results showed strong salience effects in the implicit task and strong context effects in the explicit task. Specifically, only literal target activation was found for Spanish-dominant participants in the implicit, lexical decision task, as opposed to English-dominant participants, where both literal and figurative meanings were equally strongly activated. In the explicit, meaningfulness judgment task, regardless of language dominance, congruent targets (both literal-congruent and figurative-congruent) were recognized faster than incongruent ones, both by English- and Spanish-dominant participants.

Event related potentials (ERPs) have frequently been employed to investigate language comprehension. One of the best researched language-related ERP components is the N400, which is sensitive to various linguistic factors (e.g. plausibility, word frequency, predictability, word-level associations), and is therefore commonly referred to as an index of lexico-semantic memory. Systematic research into electrophysiological indexes of lexico-semantic processing in bilingualism and its comparison with existing monolingual research remains a crucial research avenue. This review synthesizes the literature on the N400 effects observed in bilingual language comprehension studies in the context of selected models of bilingual lexico-semantic processing (i.e. RHM, BIA+), points to potential reasons behind some contradictory results, presents current trends in ERP bilingual research, identifies gaps in this area of research, and, finally, proposes future research directions.