Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium; Center for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain.
Psychiatry and Physiology Department, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia; Centro de Memoria y Cognición Intellectus, Hospital San Ignacio, Colombia.
Neuropsychologia. 2019 Jun;129:1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.02.021. Epub 2019 Mar 8.
Although speaking a foreign language is undoubtedly an asset, foreign-accented speakers are usually perceived negatively. It is unknown, however, to what extent this bias impacts cognitive processes. Here, we used ERPs and pupillometry to investigate whether the negative bias generated by a short exposure to a foreign accent influences the overall perception of a speaker, even when the person is not speaking. We compared responses to written sentence comprehension, memory and visual perception, associated with native speakers (high and low social status) and a foreign-accented speaker (high social status). The foreign-accented speaker consistently fell in-between the high-status native speaker and the low-status native speaker. This is the first physiological demonstration that short exposure to a foreign accent impacts subsequent cognitive processes, and that foreign-accented speakers seem to be considered less reliable than native speakers, even with equally high social status. Awareness of this bias is essential to avoid discriminations in our multilingual society.
虽然说外语无疑是一种优势，但带有外国口音的说话者通常会被负面看待。然而，目前尚不清楚这种偏见会在多大程度上影响认知过程。在这里，我们使用 ERP 和瞳孔测量法来研究短暂接触外国口音产生的负面影响是否会影响说话者的整体感知，即使说话者不说话也是如此。我们比较了对母语为英语的人（高社会地位和低社会地位）和带有外国口音的人（高社会地位）的书面句子理解、记忆和视觉感知的反应。带有外国口音的人始终介于高社会地位的母语人士和低社会地位的母语人士之间。这是第一个生理证明，即短暂接触外国口音会影响后续的认知过程，而且即使具有同样高的社会地位，带有外国口音的说话者似乎也不如母语人士可靠。了解这种偏见对于避免我们的多语言社会中的歧视至关重要。
