A study led by the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL) involving Albert Costa, coordinator of the Speech Production and Bilingualism Research Group at the Center for Brain and Cognition and ICREA researcher of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) at UPF, has demonstrated that we think more coldly in a foreign language that in our native one and that our actions are less influenced by our emotions when we use a foreign language. The study is published in the scientific Journal of Experimental Psychology.

To reach these conclusions, an experiment was designed in which participants had to respond to stimuli provided with a different emotional charge. Thus it was shown that a clear disparity exists in the responses given according to whether their native or another language was used.

The environment in which we learn a language is considered to impose on us a greater or lesser emotional distance when using it, depending on the emotional charge of the context in which each language is acquired. Native languages are generally acquired in emotionally rich contexts, like the familial, whereas foreign languages are usually learned in school or academic environments with less emotional charge.

This study investigated whether this linguistic and emotional distance is so important as to manifest itself even in automatic stages of the processing of emotions. So, an experiment was conducted in which 126 participants whose native language was Spanish but who also had a high level of English had to undergo a learning test in both languages.

In the mother tongue, responses were more accurate and faster 

In this test they were shown different geometric shapes associated with words whose meanings have different degrees of emotional charge, such as ‘otro’, ‘amigo’ or ‘tú’. The task consisted of memorizing to which geometric shape each term was associated. Depending on the group to which the participants were assigned, the words could be presented in Spanish or in English (‘other’,  ‘friend’, ‘you’).

When doing the test in Spanish, the participants’ responses were significantly more accurate and faster when the words were closer to them. That is to say, they committed fewer mistakes and responded faster when the shape was associated with the term ‘you’ than when it was associated with ‘friend’. In turn, there were more hits with the term ‘friend’ than with the term ‘other’.

However, when they performed the test in English, far more even results were obtained between the different types of terms. The emotional implications of each word had less influence, despite the terms being conceptually equivalent (you, friend and other).

 ”Our conclusion is that there is a close relationship between each language, the context in which it has been learned, and the processing of emotions”, the authors explained. “This study shows through ‘automatic’ emotional responses that we are more emotional in our native tongue than in another,” the researchers observe. 

Albert Costa adds that “this research shows that, as Nelson Mandela said, if you address a person in a language they understand, the words will get to their head, but if you do so in their native language, the words will get to their heart”.

Reference work:

Ivaz, L., Costa, A., & Duñabeitia, JA, (2015), ”The emotional impact of being myself: Emotions and foreign language processing”, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000179.