Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China.
Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian, Liaoning, China.
Brain Struct Funct. 2021 Jun;226(5):1405-1421. doi: 10.1007/s00429-021-02246-3. Epub 2021 Mar 6.
Research indicates that the foreign language effect on decision making can be partially explained by a reduction in emotional response in the second language. In this fMRI study, we aimed at elucidating the neural mechanisms underpinning the interaction between language and emotion in decision making. Across multiple trials, Chinese-English bilinguals were asked to decide whether to gamble in a Gambling task, and received feedbacks either in L1 (Chinese) or in L2 (English). If they gambled, feedbacks were either positively or negatively valenced words; if they did not gamble, feedback was the word 'safe'. We assessed how emotionally valenced words were processed in the two languages, and how this processing influenced subsequent decision making. Overall, we found evidence that in L2 context, but not in L1 context, loss aversion was mediated by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) which also showed strong functional connectivity with the visual cortex, suggesting an avoidance mechanism for negative stimuli in L2. However, we also found an enhanced response to positive feedbacks in L2 compared to L1, as evidenced by greater activation of the hippocampus for win feedbacks compared to safe feedbacks in L2, eventually resulting in a greater tendency to gamble. Thus, foreign language influenced decision making by both regulating emotional response to negative stimuli and enhancing emotional response to positive stimuli. This study helps unveiling the neural bases of the interaction between language and emotion in the foreign language context.
研究表明，外语对决策的影响可以部分解释为第二语言中情绪反应的减少。在这项 fMRI 研究中，我们旨在阐明决策中语言和情绪相互作用的神经机制。在多次试验中，中英双语者被要求在赌博任务中决定是否赌博，并在第一语言（中文）或第二语言（英文）中收到反馈。如果他们赌博，反馈是积极或消极的有价值的词；如果他们不赌博，反馈是“安全”一词。我们评估了两种语言中情绪有价值的词是如何被处理的，以及这种处理如何影响随后的决策。总的来说，我们有证据表明，在第二语言语境中，但不是在第一语言语境中，损失厌恶受到背外侧前额叶皮层（dlPFC）的调节，dlPFC 还与视觉皮层有强烈的功能连接，这表明第二语言中对负面刺激有回避机制。然而，我们也发现与第一语言相比，第二语言对正反馈的反应增强，证据是第二语言中赢的反馈比安全的反馈对海马体的激活更大，最终导致更大的赌博倾向。因此，外语通过调节对负面刺激的情绪反应和增强对正面刺激的情绪反应来影响决策。这项研究有助于揭示外语环境中语言和情绪相互作用的神经基础。
