Lam Boji P W, Yoon Jiyoung
Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of North Texas, Denton, TX USA.
Department of Spanish, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA.
Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2023 Jan 21;38(1):91-105. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acac054.
Assessing neuropsychological functions of dual-language speakers with semantic verbal fluency should consider the impact of language proficiency. Much evidence for the proficiency effect is found in tasks targeting neutral words. The proficiency effect on emotional verbal fluency (Emo-VF) that targets emotional word retrieval, however, is far from conclusive. This study aimed to clarify the proficiency effect on Emo-VF, specifically the extent to which language proficiency impacted positive and negative word retrieval comparably. In addition, the study examined the extent to which dual-languages speakers produced duplicated items and unique, non-duplicated items in each of two languages tested.
Thirty-two adult participants completed Emo-VF tasks that targeted a comprehensive set of basic emotions ("joy," "sadness," "fear," "anger," "disgust") in English and Spanish in two sessions separated by at least 72 h. All participants exhibited greater proficiency in English than in Spanish according to subjective and objective measures of language proficiency.
Verbal productivity was comparably lowered for all emotions in the less proficient language. Differences among categories were consistent between languages, with "joy" eliciting more words than other emotions, and "fear" yielding the highest productivity among negative emotions. Finally, dual-language speakers produced a significant number of unique items in different languages, especially for "fear."
Language proficiency exerts a general effect on positive and negative word retrieval. The study extends previous work by revealing differences between "fear" and other negative categories in addition to replicating positivity biases in unbalanced dual-language speakers. Dual-language testing is valuable in capturing the richness of emotional word repertoire associated with different languages.
在通过语义言语流畅性评估双语者的神经心理功能时，应考虑语言熟练度的影响。在针对中性词的任务中发现了许多关于熟练度效应的证据。然而，针对情绪性词语提取的情绪言语流畅性（Emo-VF）的熟练度效应尚无定论。本研究旨在阐明Emo-VF的熟练度效应，特别是语言熟练度对积极和消极词语提取的影响程度是否相当。此外，该研究还考察了双语者在两种测试语言中产生重复项目以及独特的、非重复项目的程度。
32名成年参与者完成了Emo-VF任务，该任务针对一组全面的基本情绪（“喜悦”“悲伤”“恐惧”“愤怒”“厌恶”），用英语和西班牙语分两次进行测试，两次测试间隔至少72小时。根据语言熟练度的主观和客观测量，所有参与者的英语熟练度均高于西班牙语。
在熟练度较低的语言中，所有情绪的言语产出均同等降低。不同类别之间的差异在两种语言中是一致的，“喜悦”引出的词语比其他情绪更多，“恐惧”在消极情绪中产出率最高。最后，双语者在不同语言中产生了大量独特的项目，尤其是“恐惧”相关的项目。
语言熟练度对积极和消极词语提取产生普遍影响。该研究扩展了先前的工作，除了在不平衡的双语者中复制积极偏向外，还揭示了“恐惧”与其他消极类别之间的差异。双语测试对于捕捉与不同语言相关的情绪性词语库的丰富性很有价值。
